Saw Willard White (who used to sing a lot of opera with Simon Rattle at the CBSO) play Othello in the Shakespeare version at the Young Vic (with Ian McKellen as Iago) over 10 years ago. They asked him to do it, as he has the perfect nobility for the part, but could never sing the opera, cos Verdi wrote it for a tenor and not a bass, as all logic would have demanded!

I did check with Jean at BOC that they knew about the Obama thing but the fact that I needed to check says a lot about how this sort of branding usually comes about without much deep thought. IMHO.

I’m pretty terrible with Shakespeare. Am watching the film now…

Actually The Times article suggests there is a certain amount of institutional racism in Opera rather than it simply being a case of a lack of black tenors good enough (football coaches have said the same thing about British Asian players for years to excuse their lack of progression to the premiership).

I like your analysis of the poster. Actually the pop culture reference is important to note as one of the great things Birmingham Opera Company do is try to appeal outside of the core opera-going demographic and the reference to The Dark Knight would be part of that strategy. The poster makes meaning at many other levels of course but at the ‘selling tickets’ understanding the reference is enough to flag you up as a potential punter.

“I know next to bugger all about the underlying themes of Othello” – really? I don’t believe you. It’s a great play. Go watch the cartoon version.

I remember seeing a production of the play ten years ago where the entire cast were black apart from Othello, a great thought provoking piece. It’s great that Birmingham Opera is doing its bit to drag opera into the twentieth century, if not the twenty first.