Shakespeare And His Black Mates

Please note this is a rehearsed reading of a new play.

An Englishman, an African man and a Moor walk into an inn and sit down and talk.

No, this isn’t a bad joke. We think this is how William Shakespeare, England’s great playwright, learned about exotic cultures and customs from black people he knew. How else could he have written such powerful characters like Othello, Titus Andronicus, and Caliban?

We think that Shakespeare had black mates who inspired him to write their stories into his plays. Maybe he met them down at the inn or alehouse (when times were really tight) and his black mates enthralled him with their tales. Did his black mates feel comfortable enough to talk about the unusual and unknown because Shakespeare was a good listener and non-judgemental?