Red Velvet
Red Velvet uses imagined experiences based on the often-forgotten, but true, story of Ira Aldridge, an African-American actor who, in the nineteenth century, built an incredible reputation on the stages of London and Europe.

This Student Edition, with an introduction and notes by Lydia Valentine, considers the way Alridge used theatre and Shakespeare as spaces of racial activism; how white actors were viewed as superior Shakespearean actors by virtue of their race; the legacy of Ira Aldridge and his influences today; and the performance history of the play and how it has impacted the way we talk about Black performance histories.

It includes an original interview with the playwright Lolita Chakrabarti and the original director, Indhu Rubasingham.

1112848864
Red Velvet
Red Velvet uses imagined experiences based on the often-forgotten, but true, story of Ira Aldridge, an African-American actor who, in the nineteenth century, built an incredible reputation on the stages of London and Europe.

This Student Edition, with an introduction and notes by Lydia Valentine, considers the way Alridge used theatre and Shakespeare as spaces of racial activism; how white actors were viewed as superior Shakespearean actors by virtue of their race; the legacy of Ira Aldridge and his influences today; and the performance history of the play and how it has impacted the way we talk about Black performance histories.

It includes an original interview with the playwright Lolita Chakrabarti and the original director, Indhu Rubasingham.

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Red Velvet

Red Velvet

by Lolita Chakrabarti
Red Velvet

Red Velvet

by Lolita Chakrabarti

eBook

$12.14 

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Overview

Red Velvet uses imagined experiences based on the often-forgotten, but true, story of Ira Aldridge, an African-American actor who, in the nineteenth century, built an incredible reputation on the stages of London and Europe.

This Student Edition, with an introduction and notes by Lydia Valentine, considers the way Alridge used theatre and Shakespeare as spaces of racial activism; how white actors were viewed as superior Shakespearean actors by virtue of their race; the legacy of Ira Aldridge and his influences today; and the performance history of the play and how it has impacted the way we talk about Black performance histories.

It includes an original interview with the playwright Lolita Chakrabarti and the original director, Indhu Rubasingham.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781408173565
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date: 12/06/2012
Series: Modern Plays
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 128
File size: 2 MB

About the Author

Winner of the 2012 Most Promising Playwright Evening Standard award, Lolita Chakrabarti is a British actress and writer who has worked extensively on stage and screen. Her most recent acting theatre credits include The Great Game, Afghanistan for The Tricycle, Last Seen - Joy for the Almeida, Free Outgoing for the Royal Court and John Gabriel Borkman for the Donmar Warehouse. Her acting screen credits include The Casual Vacancy, Jekyll and Hyde, My Mad Fat Diary season 3, Vera,Outnumbered, Hustle, Extras Christmas Special, Holby City, Silent Witness, Amnesia, William and Mary, Fortysomething, Bodies, and Forgiven. Writing credits include The Goddess for Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4, Faith, Hope and Blue Charity, also on BBC Radio 4 and Last Seen - Joy for Slung Low and the Almeida. In 2012, Red Velvet was the first play performed under the Tricycle's new artistic director Indhu Rubasingham. It returned to the Tricycle in 2014 before having its US premiere at St Ann's Warehouse New York. Lolita Chakrabarti also runs Lesata Productions with Rosa Maggiora. Their short film won Best Short Narrative at PAFF, Los Angeles 2012. They are currently in development with their first feature. www.lesataproductions.co.uk

Jenny Stevens was an Associate Lecturer for the Open University and currently combines educational consultancy work with teaching and writing. She is the co-author with Pamela Bickley of Essential Shakespeare: The Arden Guide to Text and Interpretation (2013) and Shakespeare and Early Modern Drama: Text and Performance (2016).

Lydia Valentine was awarded her PhD by King's College London and Shakespeare's Globe as part of LAHP'S Collaborative Doctoral Award programme. She is currently the blog editor for the Early Modern Scholars of Colour Network (EMSOC) and one of the organisers of 'The Abstract' research seminar series at KCL. Her research examines the relationship between race, kinship and embodiment in early modern drama.

Chris Megson is Senior Lecturer in Drama and Theatre at Royal Holloway, University of London. He has taught and published widely in the field of modern drama, and is editor of The Methuen Drama Book of Naturalist Plays. Other works include: Get Real: Documentary Theatre Past and Present (with Alison Forsyth, 2011), and Modern British Playwriting: The 70s: Voices, Documents, New Interpretations (2012).

Matthew Nichols graduated from the University of Birmingham in 2003 and has been teaching and leading outstanding Drama and Performing Arts departments for over a decade. Matthew also has extensive experience at a senior level with several exam boards, and was responsible for writing one of the reformed GCSE qualifications in Drama. In addition, Matthew works with schools, colleges, universities and theatres across the country. Matthew is a successful and sought after Drama education consultant, and was one of the founders of Drama Defined, which specialises in delivering high quality Drama education courses to staff and students. Matthew is currently Head of Drama at Manchester Grammar School. You can reach him on Twitter @matthew_drama.

Table of Contents

Chronology
Who was Ira Aldridge?

Historical, Social and Cultural Contexts
> Race, Shakespeare and Othello
> Race and Performance in the Nineteenth Century
> Black Shakespeare: Making Ira Aldridge Visible

Red Velvet in Performance
> Temporality
> Sound
> Metatheatricality
> Staging the Characters

Performance History and Critical Reception

Themes
> Tradition
> Anti-Black Racism and Stereotypes of Black Masculinity
> Forgotten Histories
> Englishness and National Identity

RED VELVET

Notes

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