Othello Kicks Off New Season

Othello at Great Lakes Theatre Festival

Othello Opens New Season

Date: 9/26/2010, GLFT

Othello, which kicks off the 2010-2011 season of the Great Lakes Theatre Festival kicks, opened this weekend to a sold out crowd. This show opened the start of the 49^th season of the festival, and the 5^th at the intimate Hanna Theatre, part of Playhouse Square. The setting of this production of Othello felt very intimate, despite being a part of the Playhouse Square complex. The production team chose to use modern technology and dress (such as presenting security in black suits and glasses utilizing ear buds) The costumes were standard military issue uniforms for the enlisted characters and suits and ties for the members of the ruling class of Venice. The set was also very flexible and minimalistic, allowing the audience to focus more on the action than how elaborate the set could be.

For those of you unfamiliar with Othello, it centers on the themes of jealousy, racism, love and betrayal.   The title character, Othello, is a Moor; a successful yet outcast, black general in the Venetian army.  The story begins Othello passing over his ‘honest and loyal’ friend, Iago for a promotion, choosing instead the Florentine Michael Cassius. Iago, enraged by this slight, started hatching a scheme to undo Othello completely. Meanwhile, Othello and Desdemona elope for a secret wedding the night of his deployment

When Othello, a prominent, black military general in the Venetian army, passes of his ‘honest and loyal’ right-hand man, Iago, to instead promote the Florentine Michael Cassio, Iago begins a plot against Othello to undo him completely.

Iago’s scheme begins on the night of Othello’s secret elopement to the fair Desdemona, revealing the marriage to her father, Branbanito, a senator of Veince. However, Iago’s attempt proves fruitless when Othello avoids all chastisement and is instead sent to lead the campaign near the island of Cyprus.

After the Venetians prove victorious and the army has settled in Cyprus, ‘honest’ Iago continues his plot for revenge. Using his wit and Othello’s trust in him, Iago sets out to convince Othello that Desdemona is having an affair with Michael Cassio. Meanwhile, Iago manipulates the rich Roderigo’s hope to supplant Othello’s place with Desdemona, convincing Roderigo to act against Cassio. Even when Iago’s word isn’t enough for Othello, he manufactures proof for him in the form of Desdemona’s stolen handkerchief, claiming that he found it among Cassio’s belongings. With Othello locked in a jealous frenzy, Iago finally plants the idea to Othello of killing Desdemona, promising to serve him in whatever he chooses, and thus ‘make the net that shall enmesh them all.’

I arrived to see a bare bones, minimalistic set with soft lighting. There was a skeleton of a room, with a small area in front, and a moveable backdrop with two doors, one at ground level and one at the second story. This shell of a room and foyer area was where all of the action took place, both in Venice as well as Cyprus. The actors also made use of the vomitoriums, or the same aisles the audience used to file in to their seats, which was a welcome breath of fresh air, and added a lot to the intimacy of the space, allowing the audience to feel more involved, as present in Venice and Cyprus.

GLTF’s production of Othello was very well done over all. Clocking in around three hours, there were times during the show where the time flew and action on stage, unfortunately there were also points where felt at least as long as it actually was, if not longer. There were also some problems believing the characters and their progression as the show went on. Othello felt as if he went from an elated newly married general to a rage filled spurned lover in the blink of an eye. Another overly dramatic change took place in Iago’s wife and Desdemona’s friend, Emilia; who went from a meek older woman who was very soft spoken in her advice to a small barrel of rage in no time flat. Other than those two characters, all of the characters were completely believable, to an extent we commiserated with Iago’s reaction to being passed over for a promotion he felt he deserved, but I did not feel much empathy for the title character’s descent into madness simply because it was not a natural progression, it happened much too quickly.

This was a very well done show, you could tell how much time and effort went into producing it. While it was a little on the long side, that could have been due to being part of the opening weekend jitters and can be taken care of simply by some tightening and tweaking in rehearsal over the next week. If you’re looking for a great night to spend downtown, this is certainly one of the more entertaining things going on. I would suggest going to see the GLTF’s production of Othello and following that up with a delicious dinner at one of Cleveland’s finer restaurants.