Black queer woman Iago

Abstract

This paper reflects on my experience as an actor in creating a black queer woman Iago and the meanings that come with this process. I narrate my own experience in performing provocative monologues that give Iago a political stance and attempt to theorise how my body as a black queer woman gives new meanings to the role of Iago and to an Othello loosely based in post-apartheid South Arica. Focusing on three monologues the paper aims to articulate the lived experience of performing an Iago who is rooted in black consciousness discourse and how she navigates the theatrical space to speak her truth.