FAMOUS NEGRO ACTOR

Hawera Star, Volume L, 31 July 1930, Page 8

FAMOUS NEGRO ACTOR

FREEDOM WON IN “OTHELLO

FALL ROBESON'S AMBITION

Mr Paul Robeson, the famous negro actor, explained in a recent interview m London how .playing in “Othello ’ has widened, his artistic outlook, and given him freedom. His ambition now is to act in Germany —and in German. “Hitherto,” Mr Robeson said, 1 had confined myself to negro spirituals and negro parts, until I sincerely believed myself limited by my colour to those few songs l and roles. .But 1 know now that this is not so. “If 1 can play Othello I can play other Shakespearian parts—Macbeth or Shyloek, for instance. If I can play Shakespeare I can play Ibsen and Strindberg, Tolstoi and Gorki. I can play Goethe’s Mephistophele* and other great parts. “L .shall 1 .play Othello in other .European countries, mostly in English, hut in Germany I shall perform it in the German language. L have already played ‘The Emperor Jones’, in Berlin, and Max Reinhardt lias again invited me for this part. “When ray contract for ‘Othello’ is terminated, I shall go to Germany, where I shall study for a, few years.. 1 may occasionally come back to England to sing and to act, hub not to remain. I have one great desire—that is to go to Germany. On the Continent the colour bar does not exist.

“I can speak a little German already, hut I shall make a special effort to perfect. liivseir in that language. J shall sing German music: Wagner. Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, but especially Bacli, because the spirituality in Bach's music is nearest to my soul; I love Schubert songs. I shall also sing Spanish. Italian, and old French songs.

“Othello has taken away from me. all kinds of fears, all sense of limitation, and all racial prejudice. Othello has opened to me new and wider fields; in a word. “Othello lias made me free.’’