The "Black Roscius"    

      As previously stated on the Racial Performance page, Whiteface is the costumed and painted performance of white roles before white audiences alongside white performers and to receive respect and acclaim within that artform, despite their initial nonwhite status.  The greatest example of this cultural practice was the acclaimed Ira Aldridge, an American-born actor who worked past the oppressive racial binds of the American stage and become an accomplished actor in England.  Known as the "African Roscius" of Shakespeare, a term that denoted a talented, promising stage performer and also the first Whiteface Black-American Shakespearian actor, Aldridge was born in New York and made a name for himself in Britain, but had to lighten his skin with make up in order to play white roles.

     Ironically, his first roles were as African characters like Othello, making him a Black actor pretending to be a Black character or a Moor playing a Moor.  Since so many patrons came to his shows initially expecting to see a comedy, "a black burlesque of the Bard", word quickly spread when his incredible talent was displayed (Lindfors 348).  he had a knack for playing serious dignified monologues, then following with a piece as a buffoon speaking in black dialect (Lindfors 348).

     Later in his career, Aldritch began experimenting with white roles, applying white paint, beards, and wigs to his stage pageantry (Lindfors 348).  He first performed such a role in 1830, playing Dick Hatteraick in Sir Walter Scott's play Guy Mannering, then a year later played outcast pirate hero in R. C. Maturin's Bertra.  Still he was best known for his Shakespearean performances, playing such coveted roles as Shylock, Richard III, Macbeth, and eventually King Lear, with Shylock gaining him his greatest notoriety (Lindsfors 349).  Many critics argued that since both he and the character Shylock were non-white outsiders, Aldridge could better empathize with and depict the true herocism of that otherwise disliked character (Lindfors 354).

     Despite the constant press opposition he faced in London where his Whiteface performances were critiqued as "a manifest incongruity," he was a regular touring performer in several British provinces (Lindfors 354).

     Music like alternative rock and country western rock are usually affiliated with white culture, but in the past couple of decades, black artists have emulated the cultures of these musical genres.  Performers like Lenny Kravitz and Darius Rucker from Hooty and the Blowfish take part in an newer form of Whiteface, producing and performing music

normailly associated with white artists and culture, before mostly white audiences alongside white performers to receive respect and acclaim within those artforms.  As implied earlier, they do experience some level of passing, despite their darker complexions, as a result of their acceptance by white audiences.

Works Cited 

Lindfors, Benrth. "Mislike Me Not for My Complexion: Ira Aldritch  

in Whiteface." African American Review 33.2 (1999): 347-354. Web.  12 Dec. 2010. EBSCOhost. Web. 1 Nov. 2010.