A few years ago, the Royal Shakespeare Company decided to make what was, for them, a groundbreaking

choice. In 2012, 76 years after it was first done in the U.S., 15 years after it was first

done in Canada, the RSC decided to stage the first ever high-profile, all-black, British

Shakespeare production. Julius Caesar set in Africa.

As it turns out, the experience was so remarkable that the actor who played Brutus decided to write a book about it.

From the Fulcher Shakespeare Library, this is Shakespeare Unlimited. The actor was Patterson Joseph, and the book is Julius Caesar and me, exploring Shakespeare's

African play.

Joseph was at the National Black Theatre in Harlem recently, performing his one-man show,

Sancho, an active remembrance about the first black man in England to cast a vote.

We invited him into the studio for a talk.

Julius Caesar and me takes an unflinching look at Joseph's experience at the RSC,

both his time in 2012 doing Caesar, and in the 1990s,

when this son of St. Lucian parents found himself one of only four black people in the building.

He also talks about his early work, performing the sharp and boldly reimagined Shakespeare of the Cheek-by-Jowl Company,

and his thoughts about race in British theater,

about the proper way to play Brutus, about received pronunciation, and much more.

We call this podcast Barrett as our Roman actors do.

Patterson Joseph is interviewed by Barbara Bogave.

Patterson, you write in your book that before you started work on this RSC production,

you had some doubts of your own about whether it was appropriate to set Julius Caesar in Africa.

So what were you concerned about?

I think it's just one of those things that as a performer who happens to be black,

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