Black Lesbian ‘Othello’ on Hold as Star Actress Undergoes Cancer Treatment

The Royal Shakespeare Company has announced that it will be postponing its new production of Othello, which features acclaimed lesbian actress Sharon D Clarke in the title role, as Clarke will be starting cancer treatment.

Directed by Monique Touko, the production, which has Clarke playing Othello, was set to run from February 13 until April 3, 2027.

“I would like to thank all the beautiful people at the RSC for their understanding, love, support and healing energy. Othello will be my north star as I undergo treatment,” Clarke said in a statement shared with British press.

She said she, her wife, writer and director Susie McKenna, and her family had been “overwhelmed, humbled and buoyed by the tidal wave of love that we have received and are so blessed to have an army of strength and support to hold us up. Love and thanks to my beautiful people.”

The Guardian reports that those with tickets to see Othello will be refunded and a new production schedule will be announced later.

“On behalf of the entire creative team, we send Sharon all the love for her ongoing treatment and recovery,” Touko said, according to The Guardian. “As a director, I have been incredibly blessed to collaborate with Sharon on this major reframing of Shakespeare’s tragedy, which reimagines Shakespeare’s Othello through the lens of misogynoir. Sharon is the ultimate collaborator. Her generosity and passion for this project continues to astound me and I look forward to us coming back together when the time is right to share this production with the world.”

The creative team said that Clarke was central to this version of the play, which is why it has been postponed while Clarke undergoes treatment.

Clarke previously worked on a reimagining of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, which set the family, usually Jewish Americans, in productions as Black Americans. Clarke won one of her Oliviers for that performance. 

“The American dream became so visceral because you could see the American dream and the impossibilities of it for that family. I’m hoping now through this lens with Othello, you will have to see things differently,” Clarke, who brought the production to RSC, told The Guardian earlier this summer. “She is predominantly in a male environment, so how does she deal with that on a day-to-day basis? How does she keep her dignity and her strength and her power and her womanhood on display?”

Clarke said then that she’ll be bringing her own lived experience with her in the role. She said that growing up, she was told, “You’re never going to work, you’re never going to get family and never going to fall in love.”

“I’m going to incorporate that within her,” Clarke said. “She is the strong leader, but those vulnerabilities are still going to be there.”