Paterson Joseph on The Emperor Jones, and acting
in 20th-Century Drama, Actors and Performers, American Drama
11th September 2007
INTERVIEW: PATERSON JOSEPH
The actor talks to Heather Neill about starring in Eugene O’Neill’s The Emperor Jones and George Bernard Shaw’s Saint Joan at the National, and the use of the n-word on stage, as well as about his acting career.
People who read the play find it racist – they see the phonetics and then say that it is minstrel-speak.