An upcoming production of Giaochino Rossini’s Otello will see its lead donning skin-darkening make-up, a decision that thetheatre’s creative director has defended as being in the spirit of representing the Moor of Venice.
Times of Malta was made aware of social media posts that showed tenor Cliff Zammit Stevens, who is cast in the title role, having skin darkening make-up applied to his face. The short video was captioned “getting my tan on”.
Applying dark make-up or ‘blackface’ is widely seen to be offensive and imply racist stereotypes of people with dark skin tones. The practice finds its origins in 19th century minstrel shows which mocked black people and reinforced ideas of white people’s superiority.
The tragedy of Othello features a Moorish Venetian soldier who elopes with Desdemona, the daughter of a Venetian senator. Othello is deceived by his ensign Iago, who convinces him that his new wife is an adulteress.
The Manoel Theatre’s creative director Kenneth Zammit Tabona justified the decision, saying the tenor would not be appearing any darker than if he had gotten a summer tan.
Saying there were no dark-skinned tenors in Malta, Mr Zammit Tabona noted that he would not have been able to cast a Maltese tenor in the lead role and it would appear ridiculous to present a snow-white Othello to audiences.
“Political correctness interfering with literature is completely wrong. We are following the direction of the text. Would you expect me to contradict Shakespeare? Absolutely not,” Mr Zammit Tabona said.
When asked whether the production had considered colour-blind casting, Mr Zammit Tabona dismissed the idea.
What is blackface?
Blackface refers to “the practice of wearing make-up to imitate the appearance of a black person”, according to the Oxford dictionary, although there is some disagreement on the precise definition of the term.
Some activists say that altering your appearance in any way to appear as another race implies the use of somebody’s skin tone or culture as a costume.
However, skin-darkening make-up is seen as a traditional part of opera and some argue that it is not a true form of offensive blackface.
Theatre communities find there is an interesting divide, with some commenting that such casting practices would not be acceptable in a stage play but remain commonplace in opera productions.
In 2015, the New York Metropolitan Opera made headlines when announcing that an upcoming production of Verdi’s Otello would not feature the use of skin-darkening make-up. The Met said it was “committed to colour-blind casting”, meaning that the best possible singers would be allowed to perform any role.
Maria Pisani of Integra Foundation told Times of Malta that the costuming decision was “out of sync with contemporary debates on racism and representation, and the historical toxic legacy of ‘blackface’ and how it persists”.
Dr Pisani also noted that such instances also indicated a lack of racial diversity in opera.