Izzard and Haysbert Talk 'Race' On and Off Stage

In a recent USA Today article, actors Eddie Izzard and Dennis Haysbert sat down to talk about David Mamet's play, RACE, which they both star in on Broadway.

Izzard commented that he finds it odd that no one has ever gone to war over eye color.

"It's probably because you can't actually see the eyes until you're about here," he said, "So that would make it impractical."

Dennis Haysbert, who played the President of the United States on 24, made his Broadway debut in RACE, replacing the Tony-nominated David Alan Grier as Henry Brown.

Izzard, who originated the role of Del in the 1994 London production of Mamet's The Cryptogram, took over the James Spader role of Jack Lawson.

RACE tells the story of black and white law firm partners and their associate who debate the merits of representing a wealthy white client who is accused of raping a young black woman. The play tackles the subject of race from many different perspective, including the lawyers views, public perception, and the media's influence.

"I think David put his finger on the pulse of what race is in this country," said Haysbert.

Each night, the audience's reaction to the show changes as the make-up of the audience changes. According to Haysbert, tension between blacks and whites in America has different roots than tension between blacks and whites in his country.

"It's about nationality," he says. "They have a lot of Pakistani; they have Indian and people from different countries."

But Izzard says, "That is more where the hot button issue of racism comes from. But I still think it ends up in the same place," Izzard said. "We got rid of slavery only 50 years before America did."

Izzard dreams of a world where people see each other as the astronauts viewed Earth from space.
"They saw no frontiers or borders," he says. "If people come from another planet, they'll say, 'You're all humans.' And are we going to say, 'Oh no. He's a black man. He's a white man. This man's an Asian. No. It's just all human."

For the full USA Today article, click here.

Photo Credit: Ben Strothmann