This study in its current form has been inspired by the keynote lecture of Dr Christian M. Billing at the Brno Theatralia Conference in 2016 analysing two productions of Othello, one of them being the production of 2014 at the National Theatre Brno. He questioned the way scenography could raise issues of race and identity using common material signifiers such as props, costumes or theatre make-up. The presented study proposes a polemic with his conclusions based on an overview of the productions of Othello within the Czechoslovak context and suggests Czech and Slovak critics should pay more attention to the issues of race and identity with regards to productions of Othello.
Othello; race; Negro; animal; evil
[2] BILLING, Christian. M. 2016. Race as Scenography in Jozef Ciller's Set Design and Katarína Holková's Costumes for Rastislav Ballek's Production of Othello at the Národní Divadlo Brno (2014). Key note speech at the Brno Theatralia Conference 2016. Czech & Slovak Scenography for Shakespeare, 8–9 November 2016.
[4] DLOUHÝ, Oleg. 2005. Shakespeare len pre školy? [Shakespeare only for Schools?]. Domino fórum 14: 41 (12. 10. 2005): 22.
[5] FRÝBERTOVÁ, Tereza. 2014. Jiný Othello [A Different Othello]. Kulturissimo.cz, [accessed on 1. 5. 2014]. Not available online anymore, cited from a printed version.
[7] MAREČEK, Lubomír. 2014. Cholerický živočich jménem Othello [A Choleric Animal Called Othello]. Divadelní Noviny 11 (27. 5. 2014): 6.
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Othello v bermudách a strakatej košeli [Othello in Shorts and a Colourful Shirt.] Literárny (dvoj)týždenník 23: 7–8 (24. 2. 2010): 13. Shylock: A Play. Biz Books [online]. © 2016 [accessed on 12. 6. 2018]. Available online at:
http://store.bizbooks.net/shylockaplay.aspx