To cancel or not to cancel Shakespeare? Meet the English professor flipping the script on the Bard

To cancel or not to cancel Shakespeare? 

That is the question English professor Dennis Britton is asking second year students at the University of British Columbia in his aptly named course, "Cancel Shakespeare."

Britton's academic research focuses on the history of race and critical race theory, and he uses this lens in his course to explore the complicated history the playwright has with Black people. 

As the theatre world begins to welcome audiences back after a two-year pandemic, Shakespeare costumes are likely being dusted off across the globe. But while the curtains were closed, issues of race took centre stage, including during the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020.

In response, over 300 BIPOC theatre makers signed their names on a statement titled We See You White American Theatre, demanding a more equitable and safe space in the industry.

And although film director Joel Coen recently cast Denzel Washington to play the titular character in Macbeth, generations of Black audiences have been disrespected by Bard characters in blackface.

Is it time to put William Shakespeare to bed? CBC journalist Bridgette Watson speaks with Britton to find out.

The following transcript has been edited for clarity and length.

Shakespeare wrote at least 37 plays for white actors and white audiences. Does he portray or make reference to Black characters in any of them?

Shakespeare uses colour symbolism with Black being associated with evil and white being good. His representations of blackness or Black people also have to do with lines that get sort of thrown in at various points by white characters. We definitely see ideas of anti-Blackness.

And, of course, this is also happening when Europeans are having an increased contact with Africa and the slave trade is emerging.

Othello is the most obvious character but throughout the plays there are also negative references to Black skin.

Rosalind, a white heroine in As You Like It, calls black ink on a letter "Ethiope words" because she doesn't like what they say. 

In Titus Andronicus, the villain Aaron has a soul "black like his face." So you take joy and pleasure in his villainous activities and make the explicit connection between his black deeds and Black skin.