Often called a prelude to Shakespeare’s Othello, Harlem Duet tells the story of Othello and his first wife, Billie—the woman he married before Desdemona. Their history is told through the lives of three couples, each named Othello and Billie, during eras of special significance in Black American history: 1860, before the Emancipation Proclamation; 1928, at the height of the historic Harlem Renaissance; and 1997, after the civil rights movement but before the 21st century.

Written by Canadian playwright Djanet Sears and published in 1997, the play was first produced at the Nightwood Theatre, Canada’s oldest professional feminist theater company. The inaugural production won four 1997 Dora Mavor Moore Awards, in addition to Canada’s prestigious Governor General’s Award and the Floyd S Chalmers Canadian Play Award. The playwright has described Harlem Duet as a “rhapsodic blues tragedy.” It explores themes like Racial Equality and the American Dream, The Continuity of Black History, and Intersections of Race and Gender.

Content Warning: This study guide and source text discuss slavery, racism, and sexual violence.

Plot Summary

The play begins in 1928 Harlem, where Billie and Othello, called He and She, are in a small dressing room. They exchange lines that echo Shakespeare’s Othello. She speaks of how Harlem is the realization of a dream for African Americans. The scene ends when He admits he’s in love with a white woman, after which She drops her strawberry-printed handkerchief to the floor.

In 1997 Harlem, a young academic named Billie copes with the dissolution of her marriage to Othello. He is now involved with a white colleague named Mona at Columbia University, where he serves as a professor of literature. Billie’s landlady, Magi, and her brother Andrew’s wife, Amah, are in her apartment, discussing Billie’s delicate emotional state.

The play shifts to 1860, where the enslaved Othello and Billie (Him and Her) flirt after discussing some of the atrocities that other Black people have experienced—from sexual objectification and lynching to physical mutilation. He is a blacksmith for Miss Dessy’s estate but speaks of a life of freedom in Canada. They agree to escape in the night as they pledge their eternal love to each other. He gives Her a white handkerchief with strawberry details passed down from his mother.

Back in the present, Billie and Amah are in Billie’s apartment, where she is dabbling in alchemy. She tells Amah not to touch any of the items, as some could be lethal. The phone rings, but assuming it is Othello, who is coming to collect the last of his personal effects, Billie ignores it. Othello arrives unannounced, startling Billie, who is in the shower. Mona is there as well (offstage), and he tells her that they can reconnect in a few hours. As he and Billie sift through the items, they discuss their divergent positions on racial discrimination. After a bit of cognac, they have sex. Mona returns earlier than expected, and Othello leaves.

Back in 1860, She has packed her bags for the escape to Canada, but He tells Her that He has fallen in love with Miss Dessy and can’t leave. His breach of promise is quickly matched by Othello’s in the 1997 timeline, as Othello returns to Billie’s apartment to inform her that he cannot pay for her graduate school tuition next semester as he had promised. Othello reveals that he is engaged to Mona. Later, 1860 Him has been lynched.

In 1928 Harlem, She babbles incoherently over His body with a straight-edged razor in her hand. She has killed Him after He expressed His respect for the white director, Mona.

Billie is alone in her apartment, poisoning the strawberry handkerchief that once belonged to Othello’s mother. Her buzzer interrupts, and she disposes of the remaining solution in the toilet. Magi then enters the apartment, accompanied by Canada, Billie’s estranged father, who greets Billie as Sybil. Canada gives Billie a ring that once belonged to her dead mother. Canada asks if he can visit Billie again, but she’s hesitant.

Billie and Magi are in Billie’s apartment as Billie confesses her plan to poison Othello via the contaminated handkerchief. Billie hallucinates that roaches are attacking her and perverting Martin Luther King, Jr’s, “I Have a Dream” speech. Billie relives her first tour of the apartment with Othello nine years prior, complete with their spontaneous marriage celebrated by jumping over a broom—a Black wedding tradition with origins in the slavery era when enslaved Black couples could not access official wedding ceremonies. Later that day, Othello comes back to Billie’s apartment and retrieves the handkerchief, though Billie is not there.

Amah visits Billie in a hospital, as Billie has suffered a breakdown. Amah once again advises Billie to forgive Othello. As she prepares to leave, Canada arrives and expresses his intention to stay close to Billie and repair their relationship.