Ira Aldridge was the first black actor to play in Othello at London’s Covent Garden in 1833, the same year slavery was abolished in the United Kingdom. While he was praised for his innovative acting abilities, he suffered privately—and professionally—as the lingering effects of racism and prejudice continued to take a center stage in his life.
Lolita Chakrabarti’s Red Velvet explores that momentous—and explosive—debut, moving back and forth in time as Aldridge recalls that experience 26 years later while touring in Poland. Now a tired, sick man at the age of 60, he would die on tour there.
UW-Milwaukee’s Peck School of the Arts’ production showcases emerging student talent in the 12-member cast. It’s those standout performances which outshine the writing in Chakrabarti’s play. There are some great character studies here, but the ideas dash all over the stage: casting and race, threatened male pride and ingrained societal prejudice, women in personal and professional servitude, etc.
Aldridge is a complex, fascinating character; fearless, enigmatic, a trailblazer professionally (a precursor to method acting) and personally (married to a Caucasian English woman). Josh Dukes plays him as a constantly defiant and angry young man, losing some of the nuance to showcase his complexity of emotions. It’s later in the two-hour drama (with a 15-minute intermission) that we see a softer, more open side emerge with fellow actor Ellen Tree (charmingly played by Emily Schneider) and his encounter with a Jamaican servant (Kayla Hall in a nice turn) who challenges his Othello performance while serving him tea.
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In double casting, director Bill Watson has wisely chosen Noah Turks as the German-speaking Casimir (authentic command of the language) and in the role of actor Henry Forester, displaying a level of experience well beyond his young years. Ditto for Tim Gutknecht as Aldridge’s browbeaten servant Terence as well as actor Bernard Warde. His bellicose, bathetic manner brings much needed energy and exuberance to such a stately, prim setting.
And there are many other solid performances as well: Tessa Larson, Simon Earle and especially Austin Lepper, who manages a very real French accent as the producer, Pierre Laporte, who brings on Aldridge only to remove him as the pressure mounts.
“Theater is a political act,” says Pierre at the end of Act I, in initial support of the African American actor. “It is the debate of our times.” It still is. Red Velvet is a timely reminder that the more things change, the more they stay the same—regardless of the century we’re living in.
