Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
This is a live-stream of the lecture. An edited version of the lecture will be uploaded in due course.
Have a Question? No Registration Required
https://app.sli.do/event/iq2Q4zKigQTEqa8geXRpd8
A lecture by Jason Allen-Paisant
In this lecture, Jason Allen-Paisant brings together psychoanalytic and critical theory with lived artistic practice to rethink what it means to inhabit Shakespeare’s most charged role. Drawing on Self-Portrait as Othello, he explores how the character has functioned as a symbolic demand placed on Black performance.
Against traditions that presume a universal paternal order, the lecture asks what happens when that anchor is foreclosed in history, and how Black performance invents other ways of organising meaning—through voice, breath, sound, prayer, and what Allen-Paisant calls a “training of feeling”.
The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website:
gresham.ac.uk/whats-on/speaking-othello
Gresham College has offered free public lectures for over 400 years, thanks to the generosity of our supporters. There are currently over 2,500 lectures free to access. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest minds. To support Gresham's mission, please consider making a donation: gresham.ac.uk/support
Website: gresham.ac.uk
Twitter: twitter.com/greshamcollege
Facebook: facebook.com/greshamcollege
Instagram: instagram.com/greshamcollege
This is a live-stream of the lecture. An edited version of the lecture will be uploaded in due course.
Have a Question? No Registration Required
https://app.sli.do/event/iq2Q4zKigQTEqa8geXRpd8
A lecture by Jason Allen-Paisant
In this lecture, Jason Allen-Paisant brings together psychoanalytic and critical theory with lived artistic practice to rethink what it means to inhabit Shakespeare’s most charged role. Drawing on Self-Portrait as Othello, he explores how the character has functioned as a symbolic demand placed on Black performance.
Against traditions that presume a universal paternal order, the lecture asks what happens when that anchor is foreclosed in history, and how Black performance invents other ways of organising meaning—through voice, breath, sound, prayer, and what Allen-Paisant calls a “training of feeling”.
The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website:
gresham.ac.uk/whats-on/speaking-othello
Gresham College has offered free public lectures for over 400 years, thanks to the generosity of our supporters. There are currently over 2,500 lectures free to access. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest minds. To support Gresham's mission, please consider making a donation: gresham.ac.uk/support
Website: gresham.ac.uk
Twitter: twitter.com/greshamcollege
Facebook: facebook.com/greshamcollege
Instagram: instagram.com/greshamcollege
