Page 157 - Guildhall School Media Highlights Coverage Book - 2019-2020
P. 157
20 October 2019
Red Velvet – Guildhall School, London
****
Writer: Lolita Chakrabarti
Director: Wyn Jones
Reviewer: Miriam Sallon
Ira Aldridge, born in 1807, was one of the greatest Shakespearian actors of his time, and
yet, he only performed for two nights in Covent Garden in 1833, never to return
thereafter. His legacy has been near on completely forgotten, that is until Lolita
Chakrabarti’s Red Velvet plucked him from obscurity in its 2012 premier at the Tricycle
Theatre (now Kiln Theatre). It was received with thunderous applause, going on to the
West End and Broadway. Guildhall School has decided to take it for another spin, as
directed by Wyn Jones, and to great success.
When in 1833 the celebrated actor Edmond Kean takes ill half way through
his Othello run, the crowds fear that the Covent Garden Theatre will have to close its
curtains early. But French director Pierre Laporte (Martyn Hodge) decides instead to
employ Ira Aldridge (Daniel Adeosun), a black Shakespearian actor from across the pond
whose touring UK performances have been met with great acclaim but who has yet to
trod the boards in London. Each member of the Othello cast presents a segment of
public opinion at the time: Charles (Joe Pitts), Edmund Kean’s son, is mortified at the idea
of working with a black man, and refuses to play his assigned role of Iago; Bernard
