Black Actors in Shakespearean Roles and Denzel Washington as Macbeth

This Week in Black History, Society, and Culture

In this episode, Hettie V. Williams is in conversation with Clifford Mason about Black Shakespearean actors and Denzel Washington as Macbeth. Williams is a Professor of African American history at Monmouth University and Mason is a celebrated playwright, actor, director, critic and author who has written 34 plays. He is also the author of Macbeth in Harlem: Black Theater in America from the Beginning to Raison in the Son (Rutgers University Press, 2020). Joel Coen’s The Tragedy of Macbeth is the first film completed without his brother Ethan Coen and the film has opened to positive reviews. Mason discusses the fact that Black actors such as Ira Aldridge and Paul Robeson have mastered Shakespearean roles in America and the world for more than 100 years. Here is more critical of the Coen film and Denzel’s role as Macbeth in that he sees the movie as largely failing at bringing the power of Shakespeare’s words to life.