Race-reversed casting

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{{short description|Type of casting in acting}}

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File:Patrick Stewart 1999.jpg, inventor of photo negative casting]]

Race-reversed casting, also called photo negative casting, is a form of non-traditional casting in acting. The concept revolves around reversing the race of characters being played (white characters being played by black actors and vice versa). The concept was intended as a way to open up non-traditional character roles to more actors but has received complaints that it waters down racial differences.

== History ==

The concept of race-reversed casting was invented by the British actor Sir Patrick Stewart in 1997.{{Cite web |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1997-11-19-1997323051-story.html |title = 'Othello' goes where none has gone before Review: Patrick Stewart stars in a production that reverses the play's racial lines |work=The Baltimore Sun |date=19 November 1997 |accessdate=14 June 2020 |archive-date=14 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190214040919/https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1997-11-19-1997323051-story.html}} As a classically trained Shakespearean actor, Stewart had wanted to play the titular character in Othello but stated that when he got to the point in his career where he felt he was experienced enough to play it, it had become no longer socially acceptable for white actors to put on blackface to play the role.{{Cite web | url=https://www.playbill.com/article/patrick-stewart-stars-in-race-reversed-othello-in-dc-nov-17-com-72158 | title=Patrick Stewart Stars in Race-Reversed Othello in D.C. Nov. 17 | date=17 November 1997 | work=Playbill | accessdate=14 June 2020 | archive-date=13 June 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200613150418/https://www.playbill.com/article/patrick-stewart-stars-in-race-reversed-othello-in-dc-nov-17-com-72158 | url-status=live }} Stewart stated "one day, thinking about the play, a notion occurred to me, what if we keep the racial element of the play but we just switch it over" and came up with a concept which would later be called "photo negative" casting. This technique involved reversing the skin colour of the characters, so that the majority of the characters would be black, while Othello, Bianca, Montano and the servants would be white; thus he would be able to play Othello. This was also done with the intention of continuing to broaden a view of racial prejudice, as the original lines and racial language in the script were not changed from the source material.{{cite book |first=Julie |last=Hankey |title=Othello – William Shakespeare |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2005 |isbn=0-521-83458-9 |pages=108–111}}

Stewart, when playing Othello, said he always paused after he said the line "Haply, for I am black" because he felt if anyone was going to voice an objection to the photo negative concept, that would be the place they would do it.{{Cite web |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/rambling-reporter/patrick-stewart-reveals-vertigo-diagnosis-they-have-all-said-it-will-go-away-1057879 |title=Patrick Stewart on 'Logan,' His Career and a Vertigo Diagnosis: "They Have All Said That It Will Go Away" |work=The Hollywood Reporter |date=15 November 2017 |accessdate=14 June 2020 |archive-date=13 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200613153741/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/rambling-reporter/patrick-stewart-reveals-vertigo-diagnosis-they-have-all-said-it-will-go-away-1057879 |url-status=live }} Some reviewers claimed that some non-regular theatre-goers "snickered" when that line was said.{{cite book |first=Lena Cowen |last=Orlin |title=Othello: The Moor of Venice |publisher=Palgrave MacMillan |year=2004 |page=239 |isbn=1-137-11548-3}} The concept would be later picked up by the Shakespeare's Globe Theatre Company, who would put on a performance of Antony and Cleopatra using race-reversed casting in 1999.{{cite book |first=Ayanna |last=Thompson |title=Colorblind Shakespeare: New Perspectives on Race and Performance |page=49 |publisher=Routledge |year=2006 |isbn=1-135-86704-6}} Race-reversed casting occurred again in 2014 for a performance of Death of a Salesman in Philadelphia, United States.{{cite web |url=https://www.bates.edu/news/2014/08/22/director-ozzie-jones-92-death-of-a-salesman/ |title=Ozzie Jones '92 seeks 'truth of the words' in directing Death of A Salesman |date=22 August 2014 |publisher=Bates University |accessdate=17 June 2020 |archive-date=18 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200618065255/https://www.bates.edu/news/2014/08/22/director-ozzie-jones-92-death-of-a-salesman/ |url-status=live }}