Although most major theatres now have a policy of colour-blind casting — with the National even having a group of white colonialists played by black actors in Death and the King’s Horseman last year — a Christian group is provocatively advertising for a “male white actor” to play Jesus Christ.
The Wintershall Charitable Company, which is staging the Passion of Jesus in Trafalgar Square in London on Good Friday, makes the stipulation in an advertisement in The Stage, adding that “long-term engagement in other Christian plays is possible”.
Bonnie Greer, the playwright who sat next to Nick Griffin, the BNP leader on Question Time, says barring non-white actors betrays not merely a depressingly insular view of the world, but also an ignorance of history.
“I thought we had got over the idea that Jesus always had to be a tall, white man with blue eyes and long, blond hair,” she tells me. “Jesus was almost certainly a Palestinian by descent and precisely the kind of man that a lot of people would have a problem admitting into the country these days.
"This is symptomatic of what I see as a general return to conservatism in this country. I am surprised the law allows this.”
Peter Hutley, the producer, asserts: “Jesus was white. If I was advertising for an actor in Sanders of the River I would specify a black man. We want a cast that is appropriate to Trafalgar Square in 2010. When we perform it in a black prison in Alabama or in Uganda we will have casts appropriate to the area.”
Jesus was Palestinian. Whatever his skin shade may have been it was definitely not European white.
I hope this gets proper ridicule in the U.K. and that the Wintershall Charitable Company will then advertise for the best actor regardless of skin color.
Besides, we all know what Jesus looked like, right? Here’s a picture to prove it!
Found attached to an original manuscript of the gospel of John 
Didn’t know they had Photoshop back then.
Bruce,
Jesus was conceived, not of Joseph, but of the Holy Ghost. Ghosts are white. Therefore, Jesus was white. The Holy Ghost would have a dominant gene that overpowered Mary.
This is the picture of Jesus that hung in the foyer at church and Sunday School when I was growing up. I cannot begin to tell you just how much I loved this Jesus as a little child. I remember coveting his hair. There’s a lot of women out here who would kill for a head of hair like that! Not fair. Of course though, he is Jesus.
Yeah, Mary may have been a palestinian, but God is aryan. So, Jesus was lighter skinned than all the other palestians, don’t ya know! That’s why the bad people couldn’t catch him. The bible says he looked like every other Jew, so nobody recognized him and he was lost in the crowd. Wha? … Oh never mind. (John 8:59. Luke 4:29-30, John 10:39)
This article reminded me of Christian Identity. They do believe that Jesus was actually white, possibly of German descent. I kid you not!
“That’s odd. He doesn’t look like a Mediterranean Jew.”
In my youth, I actually said that to someone who had that picture on her wall. If looks could kill…
At the time, I thought it was funny. And I still think it’s a valid point. But in retrospect, I probably shouldn’t have said it.