I'm with Jack on this: I've found the RP accents 'distracting' - not to say annoying - from the first time I saw or heard a Shakespearian production.

As for the rest - the only reason a Black Anne Boleyn or Macbeth may be 'distracting' is that we're not used to it, plain and simple.

"pale-pink actors don't get to play Othello" - they certainly did until recently; in fact, until recently, you would be more likely to see a 'pale-pink' actor playing Othello than a dark-brown one. I saw John Neville play Othello at the Neptune Theatre in Halifax, NS - and there's a (BBC?) production on film of Anthony Hopkins as Othello (with Bob Hoskins giving a brilliant interpretation of Iago), as a couple of examples. On the other hand, when my mother was involved as a university student in a production of Othello, the otherwise most obvious candidate for the lead role was passed over because of his race: he was Black. (The director told my mother that the audiences that they would be playing to were 'not ready to see a Black man kiss a White woman' - not sure where that occurs in the play, but I suppose it does.)

Must say, I'm a bit ... 'surprised' by the attitudes shown in this thread .....