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Red Velvet

Red Velvet cover

Red Velvet

Quantity
Pre-order. Available 17 Sep 2026
$20.16 RRP $25.20 Website price saving $5.04 (20%)

Payment for this pre-order will be taken when the item becomes available

This title is available for inspection copy requests

Description

Red Velvet uses imagined experiences based on the often-forgotten, but true, story of Ira Aldridge, an African-American actor who, in the nineteenth century, built an incredible reputation on the stages of London and Europe.

This Student Edition, with an introduction and notes by Lydia Valentine, considers the way Alridge used theatre and Shakespeare as spaces of racial activism; how white actors were viewed as superior Shakespearean actors by virtue of their race; the legacy of Ira Aldridge and his influences today; and the performance history of the play and how it has impacted the way we talk about Black performance histories.

It includes an original interview with the playwright Lolita Chakrabarti and the original director, Indhu Rubasingham.

Accessibility Information

Additional accessibility information

  • PDF/UA-2, 1.4
  • accessibility@bloomsbury.com

Hazards

The publication contains no hazards

Support for non-visual reading

Has alternative text descriptions for images

Navigation

  • Page list to go to pages from the print source version
  • Elements such as headings, tables, etc for structured navigation
  • All or substantially all textual matter is arranged in a single logical reading order

Table of Contents

Chronology
Who was Ira Aldridge?

Historical, Social and Cultural Contexts
> Race, Shakespeare and Othello
> Race and Performance in the Nineteenth Century
> Black Shakespeare: Making Ira Aldridge Visible

Red Velvet in Performance
> Temporality
> Sound
> Metatheatricality
> Staging the Characters

Performance History and Critical Reception

Themes
> Tradition
> Anti-Black Racism and Stereotypes of Black Masculinity
> Forgotten Histories
> Englishness and National Identity

RED VELVET

Notes

Product details

Explore Methuen Drama
Published 17 Sep 2026
Format Ebook (PDF)
Edition 1st
Pages 144
ISBN 9781350497696
Imprint Methuen Drama
Series Student Editions
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

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Environment: Staging