Venue: The Helix, Dublin.
Second Age Theatre Company.
Overview of Othello:
This drama is one of the great tragedy themed plays by William Shakespeare. Othello is a highly esteemed general in the service of Venice. Iago is Othello's ambitious friend. Othello promotes the Michael Cassio to the position of personal lieutenant and Iago is deadly jealous. Iago begins an evil and malicious campaign against the hero. Othello elopes with Desdemona but Iago starts to plot against them. Othello becomes jealous and suspicious of Desdemona. He confides in Iago that he plans to poison Desdemona. Plots and murders ensue and Othello returns to the castle to kill his innocent wife. He eventually smothers her to death.
Emilia tells Othello the truth about the scheming Iago. Othello wounds Iago, then kills himself. Iago kills Emilia.
Staging/Props:
The Staging was probably the highlight of the play for me. All the settings were very realistic, and added to my enjoyment and understanding of the play. For example, in the final scenes, where Othello is killing Desdemona, the stage is converted into the a bedroom excellently, using various props.
Performances:
I was quite disappointed with the portrayal of Iago. From reading the text, Iago has been depicted as a sly and cunning, yet interesting character. However, in my opinion, this was not depicted well enough in the performance. The actor was not engaged with the character of Iago enough.
I was however impressed with the portrayal of Desdemona. The actress portrayed Desdemona as she is portrayed in the text, an honest, loving, noble character.
Evaluation:
I thought the performance was good, but could have been improved upon in some areas. In particular, character portrayal. I don’t think it had a major addition to my understanding to the play, and I don’t think it will help me greatly in answering questions in the exam. It was interesting to see the play performed live, it was certainly more interesting than reading the text in class. I would recommend this performance.
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