Race and the female star in australasian Shakespeare

Abstract

Very few of Shakespeare’s plays feature a central, dominant female character, so when these exceptional plays are staged, the decision about which actress is cast in the starring role can be highly politically charged. In Australia and New Zealand, with their small populations, history of assault by a colonising force on the Indigenous culture and strongly multicultural present-day demographic, there has always been a tension between an avowed philosophy of Shakespeare-for-all and the realities of a theatre industry struggling with ingrained sexism and racism. This chapter focuses on the recollections of actresses who have had the experience of being obliged to consider their marginalisation while playing these central roles. It reflects on the artistic and cultural resonances of instances, particularly within the Shakespeare industries of Australia and New Zealand, when ethnic minority women who might conventionally feel excluded from such a white, male cultural centre have plunged in to claim space as Rosalinds and Cleopatras, Juliets and Portias, Innogens and Helenas.