Table of Contents

1. Preliminaries; 2. Patterns of blackness; 3. Talking devils; 4. Kings and queens; 5. Bedtricksters; 6. Shakespeare's Moor of Venice; 7. Europeans disguised as Moors; 8. Avenging villains; 9. Royal slaves; Afterthoughts.

Promotional Information

An unusual study of the tradition of blackface in stage performance.

About the Author

Virginia Mason Vaughan is Professor of English at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Reviews

'Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above.' Choice 'Performing Blackness is a welcome remedy to the relative neglect of English theatrical representations of black skin. ... is it not possible for a black actor to perform the part of Othello in a manner that resists racialist assumptions? ... this book addresses important issues about the performative nature of blackness and racial representation on the early English stage.' Theatre Survey '... the gradual increase of the black population in London over the period covered by the book, ... is correlated with a steady 'humanising' of black stage characters, but also with an increasing frequency of themes dealing with anxiety regarding miscegenation. ... an illuminating survey of the development of theatrical conventions and cultural attitudes which will be pertinent to anybody interested in early modern conceptions of race.' Notes and Queries '... why, just as chattel slavery takes hold in the colonies, does Restoration theater increasingly depict more humanized Moorish characters in adaptations like Ravenscroft's 1678 production of Titus Andronicus and Behn's 1676 production of Abdelazer: The Moor's Revenge? ... [This] book invites us to consider ... earlier forms and manifestations and suggests that we still have much to learn about the history of the category of race.' Journal of British Studies '... [Vaughan] is to be congratulated for her brevity and clarity, and her audience of intellectual and religious historians should benefit from reading this book.' Sixteenth Century Journal