Language English Country United Kingdom | Publication date 19 July 2012 Originally published 19 July 2012 OCLC 808600872 | |
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Pages 64 pp (Paperback edition) ISBN 978-1-849-43389-1 (Paperback edition) Similar Toni Morrison books, William Shakespeare books | ||
Desdemona is a play by Toni Morrison. It was first produced in Vienna in May 2011. The title character of the play is Desdemona, the wife of the title character in Shakespeare's Othello. The 2011 play arose from a collaboration between Morrison, director Peter Sellars, and musician Rokia Traoré, and revolves around Desdemona's relationship with the African nurse who raised her.
It marks at least the third time a modern female playwright has written a play with Shakespeare's Desdemona as the main character. There is also Desdemona: A Play about a Handkerchief (1993) by Paula Vogel and Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) (1988) by Ann-Marie MacDonald. All three plays could be construed as feminist takes on Shakespeare, but otherwise have highly divergent interpretations of the character of Desdemona.
The official playscript of Desdemona was published in 2012 by Oberon Books, with a foreword written by the director Peter Sellars.