Honestly, who cares what race Hermione is? It is left purposefully vague, (though I think I remember a passage somewhere of her face being pink or something, but that was because she was blushing, so flimsy evidence at best)and does not effect her character at all. Do I see her as black? Personally, no. I see Emma Watson. But do I care that this play cast her in a way that goes against my personal view? Not even a smidgen. But if this bloke playing Ron does not get a ginger wig or something...

Admittedly, that is also why I am not going to celebrate this as if the casting is some grand beacon of progress. Oh, look, somebody casting based on talent not race. Why is this newsworthy again? Especially on the stage, which has always been looser with casting. So, I am going to do what frankly I think everybody else should do: hope for the best, and look forward to seeing the production at some point.

"Hermione is British." Uh, yeah, okay. May I just point out, off the top of my head:

- Dean Thomas
- Lee Jordan
- Angelina Johnson
- Blaise Zabini
- Kingsley Shacklebolt

Oh, and just for fun, we could mention Cho Chang and the Patil twins, too.

One wonders if people forget that Great Britain was once an empire spanning the globe, and that there was naturally (and unnaturally) some commerce between the various nations in said empire.

~Neshomeh

'Scuse me, I'll be over in the corner with Scape.

(Though I'm slightly bummed that I'll probably have to wait ages for the States to have a go, and even then I probably won't be able to afford tickets. Maybe they'll publish the libretto?)

~Neshomeh