i can't tell you how many people said paul robeson's wife. i knew he had a wife but i didn't know much about her. eslanda robeson indeed was a remarkable person and a biographer's treasure because she had such a rich life and she spent a lot of time documenting that life so that made my job a little bit easier but she began her career as a chemist working at at columbia presbyterian hospital then quickly shifted to serve as the architect of paul's early career. she was his manager, publicist etc. but that's not really her main contribution our accomplishment. i was most drawn to her and interested and excited to do this work because of her largeness of her life and i mean that on a global stage. i think the importance of telling her story in particular and rosa parks is the international significance of their political contributions and eslanda robeson in particular was an anticolonial activist, a writer and human correspondent, an anthropologist. she was someone who was there the founding of the united nations in 1945. she traveled to the fro

following year, 1959, paul robeson came to play "othello." and over thoerz years actors of -- black actors have gained in their classical skills and they -- this is the first time we fielded an entirely black cast. it just -- it happens to be black because that's how we chose to do this particular production. but there is no shortage of exceptional talent in the u.k. >> rose: is voice especially important in shakespeare? >> it is. it's very important because, you know, in the prolong to romeo and juliet he says "if you with patient ears attend --" that's one of the great differences. we talk about television audiences, we talk about theater audiences. it's about hearing. it's about how the language itself can create the story. can create the magic, i think. >> rose: when you look at this, what was the hardest thing for you to do. you had already developed a play in south africa in 1995. >> that was a very special experience. the -- it was with the national theater studio. we were invited -- my partner anthony cher and i were invited as part o