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Post by FairyGodmother on Apr 14, 2024 8:27:21 GMT
South Pacific on tour I found interesting.
Obviously for practicality reasons it makes sense to have your US soldiers and nurses a mixture of races, to save you needing to double the cast size and be able to have covers for Mary and Liat.
But I personally thought it lessened the input of You've Got to be Carefully Taught and Nellie's feelings. Somebody on here said (I'm quoting from memory here, so correct me if it was you and you're not happy with my phrasing) they thought it added to it — Nellie knows it's ok to to be friends with black or Asian people, so can't understand why she doesn't find it ok to fall in love with a man who has been married to a non-white woman.
That is a good way of rationalising it, but I don't think the show should need that "extra story" to make it ok. But otherwise you'd be very restricted in how to cast, so perhaps it is the best way to think about it.
I do think there are also some shows where no matter how much you want them to, audiences will struggle to suspend belief. You can talk about colour-blind casting as much as you want, but if you cast Mamma Mia with a white Donna, mixed raced Sophie, two white dads and a black dad, people will roll their eyes when she says she has no idea who her father is!
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Racism
Apr 14, 2024 13:59:38 GMT
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ceebee likes this
Post by danb on Apr 14, 2024 13:59:38 GMT
I don't really have much to add other than I bloody hate racism and there's just no need for it. I agree with nick that perhaps we might see the last gasps of it as generations come through. When I listen to my children's response to any off-colour remark that is sexist, homophobic or racist it does indeed give me hope that it will die out this generation or the next. Whilst respect for others in general appears to be on the decline, these specific aspects are just “not cool, man”. |
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Racism
Apr 14, 2024 21:09:42 GMT
Post by Deleted on Apr 14, 2024 21:09:42 GMT
If you see Juliet as a ‘white character’ - because after all she was a 16th Century Italian from a noble family - then in theory her whiteness in as inherent to her identity as the ‘blackness’ of Othello is. And so the double-standard of insisting that Othello must always be played by a black actor but that Juliet can be played by an actor of any non-white race creates the backlash. Excellent point about Juliet - she would have likely been olive skinned and darker hair so her being played by a blonde fair skinned actress is as inaccurate as people have claimed Francesca's casting was. If a blonde young Netflix star had been named opposite Tom there would have been no kick back I bet. |
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Post by kathryn on Apr 14, 2024 22:30:29 GMT
And of course she was only 15!!
Only not really, because she is a character in a play and didn’t actually exist.
(Don’t tell the tourists that, though - they make a nice living down in Verona!)
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Racism
Apr 14, 2024 23:31:59 GMT
Post by Deleted on Apr 14, 2024 23:31:59 GMT
And of course she was only 15!! Only not really, because she is a character in a play and didn’t actually exist. (Don’t tell the tourists that, though - they make a nice living down in Verona!) Olivia Hussey was only about 16 when she played Juliet in the Zeffirelli film, Claire Danes was only 16/17 when she was in the Baz Lurmann version. Lorna Want was only 15 when she was in the 2003 stage musical version. But usually on stage the actors are about as much the characters actual ages as say in something like Grease. |
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Post by profquatermass on Apr 15, 2024 11:54:04 GMT
For what it's worth, Juliet is explicitly 13 (Lady Capulet says she's not 14 until Lammas-tide in a two weeks). The youngest modern Juliet I know of is Rebecca Saire who was 14 when she did the BBC Shakespeare R & J with Patrick Ryecart as Romeo
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Racism
Apr 15, 2024 21:04:25 GMT
Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2024 21:04:25 GMT
For what it's worth, Juliet is explicitly 13 (Lady Capulet says she's not 14 until Lammas-tide in a two weeks). The youngest modern Juliet I know of is Rebecca Saire who was 14 when she did the BBC Shakespeare R & J with Patrick Ryecart as Romeo Thanks for pointing this out. I was thinking I hadn't heard that Patrick Ryecart was in things when he was a teen but he was 26 when he was in this. Rebecca I must admit I'd not heard of but she was in some Tv roles in the last couple of years. Certainly a great cast in that version. I must try to see if it is online and take a look. |
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Post by jojo on Apr 16, 2024 12:29:21 GMT
I do think there are also some shows where no matter how much you want them to, audiences will struggle to suspend belief. You can talk about colour-blind casting as much as you want, but if you cast Mamma Mia with a white Donna, mixed raced Sophie, two white dads and a black dad, people will roll their eyes when she says she has no idea who her father is! I think this is a great example of a reason where outright colour-blind casting would not be appropriate, or at least needs a bit of extra thought, but there are opportunities for colour-bind casting elsewhere in the show. It's not just about equality of access to opportunities, it is a good thing that our world is represented in the media, including on stage. If we are open about the roles where it is possible, then we don't need to get uptight about the roles where it's not appropriate. |
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