Theatre, Anti-Theatricality and Anti-Blackness in Romantic Criticism

This article argues that anti-theatricality is entrenched in, even a manoeuvre of, anti-Blackness. The article begins by establishing the contexts of the first Black actor known to have played Othello in Britain – Ira Aldridge in the first half of the nineteenth century – and, conflictingly, the repeated efforts in Romantic-era performance and criticism to reject Othello’s Blackness. These contexts highlight the default white perspective of Romantic theatrical texts, and the role anti-Blackness had in shaping Romantic dramatic criticism. Having introduced these concepts, I offer a close reading of Charles Lamb’s essay ‘On the Tragedies of Shakspeare’ (1811, rpt. 1818) to demonstrate that Romantic anti-theatricality’s desire to transcend embodiment is, specifically, a rejection of marginalised bodies in favour of an idealised imagination coded as white.