Shakespeare database reveals 'massive failure' in minority casting

Carousel, News | The Stage: Black and Asian actors are sidelined into “second-tier” roles in Shakespeare plays and are rarely cast as the lead, according to a major new online database of minority ethnic performers.

It reveals many Shakespearean supporting roles have been played twice as often by black and Asian actors as the leading roles in the corresponding play.

These include Laertes and Ophelia in Hamlet, Banquo in Macbeth, and both Hero and Claudio in Much Ado About Nothing.