JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
The Folger Shakespeare Library here in Washington, D.C., is home to the world's largest Shakespeare collection. And that's where we found Adjoa Andoh. You might recognize her voice from "Bridgerton" on Netflix.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "BRIDGERTON")
ADJOA ANDOH: (As Lady Agatha Danbury) We were two separate societies divided by color until a king fell in love with one of us. Love, Your Grace, conquers all.
SUMMERS: But more than the woman who plays the Ton's matchmaker, Andoh is a lifelong Shakespeare devotee. She makes the case that the Bard is always relevant. That made her the perfect inaugural director's resident at the Folger Shakespeare Library. When we talked on stage at the Folger Theatre, a gorgeous, weighty space wrapped in dark wood with brilliant red seats, she told us the first time Shakespeare captivated her, she was just 8 years old.
ANDOH: I mean, the first Shakespeare I ever saw was "The Tempest" - incredible, frightening, wonderful story, which is "The Tempest." You know, and you see Little Miranda. She's the daughter of Prospero. And you see little you. Is that you and your dad? Oh, I don't think so. Oh, maybe it is. You know, and you get caught up in the comedy and the magic of it all. I think it's a pretty amazing first Shakespeare play to see.
SUMMERS: If I remember correctly, you staged "Richard II" in 2019. For people who do not know that story as well as you do, just give it to us in a nutshell.
ANDOH: OK. I'd gone to this wonderful theater, the Globe. So it's an original Shakespeare building. We had just gone through Brexit in the U.K. So the whole nation was in a real state of anxiety and flux about who had a right to call themselves a British citizen. That was a big thing during the debate. "Richard II" is a play about England. It's about the wonder of England and the deterioration of England. I call it Shakespeare's love letter to England. So I thought, OK, if I direct "Richard II," whilst we're talking about who has a right to be a citizen of this country, what interesting conversation could I bring to bear within that production? So I thought about, how did Britain get to be great?
It got to be great because it forged an empire. It enforced an empire, and it colonized many countries and brought the raw materials of those countries into its orbit and financed its growth into becoming the leading global power in the world, at that time, I would say. Well, those people from those lands, many of them would be my descendants, for example. So I thought about, how do we tell the story of England from a different perspective, where the people who were at the bottom of that colonial pile...
SUMMERS: Yeah.
ANDOH: ...Get to tell the story? And the bottom of most piles are always women, and women of color would be at the bottomest of the bottom pile. So I said, how about we tell the story of England and see how that sits? And so we did.
SUMMERS: I wonder what the environment was like bringing together all of these women of color because it wasn't just the cast. It was everyone who was working on this production. As someone who's worked in predominantly white spaces as a Black woman my entire life, I would imagine there's a remarkable level of sisterhood, of kinship, of community.
ANDOH: Well, on the first day of rehearsals, we all gathered, and we all cried - big a** women crying to be not the only one in the room.
SUMMERS: I get it.
ANDOH: And the relief of not being the only one in the room, and the freedom of not being the only one in the room, which is what my intention had been beyond, you know, what does it look like if you tell the story of England with women of color? What does it feel like to be a worker, a woman of color, working in an environment where, for the first time, you don't have to represent in any way at all apart from with your work why - what are you here for? Oh, you're the fight director. Be great. Oh, you're the stage manager. Be great. You're the designer. You're the composer. Just come and do that. You don't have to be a representative for womankind.
SUMMERS: You just get to do your job.
ANDOH: Just come and do your job. What does that feel like? That made us cry because it's such a rare feeling.
SUMMERS: I think about growing up - when I first started learning about Shakespeare in school, I wasn't sure it was for me. I wasn't sure there was a place in it for me. So I wonder what you would say to people, especially people of color, who don't see a space for themselves in the Shakespeare universe. They don't feel like they can connect to it. They don't feel like it's for them.
ANDOH: Well, I mean, I think lots of young people feel like Shakespeare isn't for them. And I think some of that is about the way it's first brought to them.
SUMMERS: Yeah.
ANDOH: And I think in an ideal world, the first encounter you should have with Shakespeare is seeing a performance of the play because that's what he intended. Now, as to race in that equation, there is a job of work to be done on filling in the history of Shakespeare production. I talk a lot about Ira Aldridge. Ira Aldridge was an African heritage man in America, enslaved, got himself out of slavery, had an absolute love, desire and brilliance at classical theater, loved Shakespeare, came to Britain and in 1825 played the first Black Othello. He transformed the way that we perform Shakespeare. He changed the style. We had a very fixed style that you would sort of declaim the lines out to the audience rather than actually have a conversation with the person you're on stage with.
SUMMERS: Oh, yeah.
ANDOH: He transformed that. So that's just one story of the way in which we do not know our history about our relationship with Shakespeare. So I would say there's a great work of education to do, but also, there are really practical things beyond that. Do theaters come to neighborhoods where people are not generally feeling like they are welcome in these spaces? Are they saying, we want you to come? And when you come, will you see people of color on the stages? Will you see African American directors, actors, producers, composers, you know? Will you see all that? So that job of work is not Shakespeare's responsibility. The plays are there, and no one should be barred from the opportunity to come and discover him for themselves. And that's also about the way we price theater and the way we make seats and tickets and productions available to potential audiences who are never invited in. So all of that is on us to make better.
SUMMERS: I know in the talk that you gave in this very space at the Folger, you talked about the importance of play and it being at the heart of everything...
ANDOH: Yeah.
SUMMERS: ...That you do. How do you keep sight of that, especially when things are tough - to keep that play front of mind?
ANDOH: That's when I think you have to lean in harder. My job as an artist who trades in play is to bring as much joy and as much connection and as much empathy and sympathy into the lives that I touch as I possibly can. That's - for me, that's the deal. Oh, you want to live a life in play where you dress up and that's your job? Do your job. You bring the joy, you bring the play, and you try to share that with people. You try to remind them that they have that joy within them and that they have that sense of play. You know, we've all been little kids. We've all played. And that doesn't disappear. It just gets overlaid by other cares and worries and challenges in our lives. But it's still there, and we still respond to it if given the chance.
SUMMERS: Adjoa Andoh, the inaugural director's resident at the Folger Shakespeare Library, thank you so much for sitting down with us in this beautiful space.
ANDOH: Oh, thank you so much for having me. It's been lovely to talk to you.
SUMMERS: It's been a pleasure.
(SOUNDBITE OF PETER GREGSON'S INSTRUMENTAL ARRANGMENT OF CHARLI XCX SONG, "360") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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