Olivier Award-winning actor Sharon D Clarke has been diagnosed with cancer, the Royal Shakespeare Company has announced, while revealing their production of Othello has been postponed.

Best known for her theatrical performances in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Caroline, or Change, Clarke, 60, had been due to take on the titular role in a radical new production of Othello at the Swan Theatre next year.

But on Thursday (13 August), the RSC announced that the production had been delayed as Clarke “takes time to undergo treatment for cancer”.

In a statement, the Holby City star, who received an MBE in 2017, said: “I would like to thank all the beautiful people at the RSC for their understanding, love, support and healing energy. Othello will be my north star as I undergo treatment.”

Clarke said that she, her family and wife, writer and director Susie McKenna, had been “overwhelmed, humbled and buoyed by the tidal wave of love that we have received and are so blessed to have an army of strength and support to hold us up”.

“Love and thanks to my beautiful people,” she said.

Those with tickets to see Clarke in Othello would be automatically refunded, the RSC said, adding that a replacement production for the 13 February to 3 April 2027 period would be announced in time.

Director Monique Touko, whose recent work has included Marie & Rosetta at @sohoplace and Jaja’s African Hair Braiding at the Lyric Hammersmith, said: “On behalf of the entire creative team, we send Sharon all the love for her ongoing treatment and recovery.”

She continued: “As a director, I have been incredibly blessed to collaborate with Sharon on this major reframing of Shakespeare’s tragedy, which reimagines Shakespeare’s Othello through the lens of misogynoir.

“Sharon is the ultimate collaborator. Her generosity and passion for this project continues to astound me and I look forward to us coming back together when the time is right to share this production with the world.”

Announced in July, the original description for the RSC’s new Othello read: ”Set in a climate-threatened future in which a Black lesbian holds a seat of power, this movement and music-infused Othello by Monique Touko re-imagines Shakespeare’s 400-year-old story through the lens of misogynoir, as an unsanctioned marriage perilously crosses boundaries of race, sex and status, allowing jealousy, suspicion and malign intent to close in.”

A three-time Olivier winner, Clarke landed her first TV role in 1986’s The Singing Detective, and has worked consistently on stage and screen ever since.

To many audiences, she is best known as Lola Griffin from BBC medical drama Holby City. Clarke, who praised the show for its positive portrayal of a Black woman on TV, originally played the role from 2005 to 2008, before reprising the part in 2019.

In recent years, Clarke has also appeared in Rocketman, Red, White and Royal Blue, and Wicked and its sequel on the big screen, and Doctor Who, Showtrial and Mr Loverman on the small.

Most recently, Clarke starred as Lady Bracknell opposite Ncuti Gatwa in the National Theatre’s production of The Importance of Being Earnest.