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Page 76 white Calcutta: “At last we crept on inch by inch and people began to wonder if their seats were kept for them. How full it must be—By Jove, Barry and the Nigger will make a fortune” (Mitra 1967:199). The same letter records the reaction of the audience when they discovered that the performances had been canceled that night. The epistler sets up a conversation between members of the excitable crowd: No play, said the stout gentleman—What? said the multitude. Othello sick!! No—he ain’t painted! […] Desdemona inebriated! Barry drunk! Iago not come—one gentleman in a white choker roared out, how could you expect him when his very name tells you Aye a go? (200) Despite the banter of this letter, historical evidence suggests that the event had more serious political implications. Not only did the military commander pull the soldiers from the cast, but the police were also sent, “having received military notice to arrest the well known amateurs should they have attempted to make their appearance” (203). While no evidence exists to suggest a direct link between the presence of a Native Othello on the English stage and the military-police action, the reviews reveal a different kind of surveillance at work. IVThe lights at the Sans Souci were lit again on August 17, 1848 and the Bengal Hurkaru offered a lengthy review of the performance two days later, on August 19: |
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