Hans Kesting looks back with a double feeling on the time when he was painted for the title role in Shakespeares Othello to play. He tells that in an interview with Friday De Volkskrant.
The 59-year-old actor played the African general for Toneelgroep Amsterdam several times. “I was only very lightly painted,” Kesting tells about the performances. “It was a kind of light brown haze, not like Ko van Dijk or Laurence Olivier in that role. I thought it was possible at the time, because it served that role. But at some point we stopped the make-up because it became sensitive . “
“I understand that”, the actor continues. “But I am also sorry, because it limits actors in their expression possibilities. If it is necessary for a role, I think that something like that should be possible. But I turned out to be able to play Othello very well without make-up.”
“I have the same double feeling in the view that only black actors should play Othello,” says Kesting. “On the one hand, I get that: there is now a group of actors of color who say: these are our roles. And as long as the opportunities are not distributed fairly, you may have to reason like that. At the same time, I think that an actor should do everything otherwise I would never have been able to play Roy Cohn Angels in America because I’m not a little Jewish man. So I think that view is also an impoverishment. “
Kesting has made dozens of performances with Toneelgroep Amsterdam since the eighties. In addition, he has been seen in various films and series. For example, in 2019 he had a major role in the Dutch Netflix series Ares. From 1 June he will play the leading role for Toneelgroep Amsterdam Who killed my father, in the International Theater Amsterdam.
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