january 2005

SHAKESPEARE AND ISLAM

The British theatre world is showing an increased interest in the Middle East and the Islamic cultural scene. The Arab-Israeli Cookbook at the Gate Theatre or the performance of Women of War by the Iraqi author Jawad al-Assadi are just two examples of this trend.

Surprisingly, London's Globe Theatre was the very first English theatre to tackle the subject over an extended period. This month will see the 400th anniversary of the first performance of Othello, the Moor of Venice for which there is written evidence.

In Shakespeare's time, as today, the term "Moor" was used to describe a member of a Muslim people that inhabited North Africa.

Othello was probably a Moroccan

Patrick Spottiswoode, head of the Globe Education Department, explains that everything points to the fact that Shakespeare's Othello was a Moroccan.

He was probably inspired to write the play by the Moroccan ambassador's spectacular visit to England in the year 1600: "From the Ottoman invasion of Cyprus to Desdemona's fateful handkerchief, which was spun in Egypt, the play is peppered with references to Islam."

And so the Education Department decided to use the anniversary to make contact with the Islamic Society of Britain and other organisations to put together a "Shakespeare and Islam" season.

The aim is to explore Elizabethan attitudes to the Muslim world; part of the Globe's remit is to work towards a better contemporary understanding of Shakespeare and to examine the social and political context in which his plays were written.

But the Globe also saw the opportunity of using the Bard, the quintessential vehicle of English culture, to pave the way for encounters with Islamic culture in modern Britain.

Othello is right at the heart of this extensive cycle of events, which includes Globe youth workshops in English and Arabic and a reading of the rarely performed first printed version of the play dating from 1622.

Seven other plays from the Shakespeare era, which are either set in Islamic countries or in which Islamic figures play an important role, will be read, book in hand, by actors including forgotten masterpieces like the 17th Century pieces Emperor of the East by Philip Massinger and The Battle of Alcazar by George Peele.

At the time, the Ottoman Empire still constituted a latent threat: in 1570, the Turks conquered Cyprus after a bloody invasion. At the same time, Morocco, which was not under the yoke of Constantinople, was an important ally of England in its animosity towards Catholic Spain.

Elizabeth and the Moroccan King even hatched plans to colonise America together. According to sources, Shakespeare himself actually read Richard Knolle's book General History of the Turks.

He refers to Islam at least 141 times in 21 different plays: this includes references to the prophet "Mahomet", Morocco, Constantinople, Turks, Ottomans, Saracens, Sultans, and Moors.