FAMOUS NEGRO ACTOR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20620, 19 July 1930, Page 3 (Supplement)

FAMOUS NEGRO ACTOR.

FREEDOM WON IN " OTHELLO."

PAUL ROBESON'S AMBITION. Mr. Paul Robeson, the famous negro actor, explained in a recent interview in 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. " iritherto," Mr. Robeson said, " I had confined myself to negro spirituals and negro parts, and I sincerely believed myself limited by my colour to those few songs and roles. But I know now that this is not so. " If I can play Othello I can play other Shakespearian parts —Macbeth or Shylock, for instance. If I can play Shakespearo I can play Ibsen and Strindberg, lolstoi and Gorki, I can play Goethe's Mephistopheles and other great parts. " I shall play Othello in other European countries, mostly in English, but in Germany I shall perform it in the German language. I have already played ' The Emperor Jones' in Berlin, and Max Reinhardt has again invited me for this part. " When my contract for ' Othello' is terminated, I shall go to Germany, wheie I shall study for a few years. I may occasionally come back to England to sing and to act, but 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, but I shall make a special effort, to perfect myself in that language. I shall sing German music: Wagner, Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, but especially Bach, 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 has made me free."