Anne Boleyn

Alegrias1

Its threads like this that restore my faith in GNers

I was going to post something similar myself.
So far it's a unanimous 'yes' to a black Boleyn. Brilliant!
(I hope I haven't spoken to soon.)

Its threads like this that restore my faith in GNers

In Bridgerton the characters were played by actors of many different ethnicities taking absolutely no account of the role they were playing. It didn't make the slightest difference to the enjoyment of the programme. In fact, it made it more interesting.

Ask not feel!

Sarnia decades ago westerns and biblical productions, to name just two types of films, were full of white American actors . Did you feel the same questions back then?

It is nothing new. Or is this really the first time you have been aware?

If Benedict Cumberbatch announced he was playing Martin Luther-King there would be hell to pay.

From an artistic point of view there would be no reason why he couldn't, if there was fair dibs for black actors in the arts.

But as we know the vast majority of roles go to white actors so if a real life character is black then in the current circumstances it would need to go to a black actor to help even things up a bit.

I think “colour blind “ casting has to be here to stay. Sometimes it adds an extra dimension to a classic - like the excellent RSC Julius Caesar set in a black African republic a few years ago or the black Hamlet with Paapa Essiedu I saw two years ago at the Hackney Empire, also RSC.
Other times it is just that - “ colour blind” - and we need to look behind the colour of an actors skin. Do we expect a native Dane to play Hamlet? Does Macbeth to be Scottish? Of course not. It’s called acting.
Actually I hate the “blacking up” that has in the past been deemed necessary for Othello and can’t wait to see a white Othello and a black Iago.

No one is trying to remove anything from British history - it's just artistic/creative license.

Everyone knows that Anne Boleyn was white and it remains to be seen whether this actor can pull it off and bring something new to the role.

You have to suspend belief with any theatrical performance - particularly ballet and opera; even a stage play has to convince you that they really are the characters not just a bunch of people up there on stage, when in reality that's what they are.

Maybe the casting director saw the actors talent before the colour of her skin? Hardly trying to change history, rather a case of diversity, inclusion and embracing the talents of everyone.

It's Art. Art doesn't have to be representational.

Have you objected to the hundreds of white actors who've played Othello?