“O, beware, my lord, of jealousy;
It is the green-ey’d monster, which doth mock
The meat it feeds on.”– W. Shakespeare, Othello.
In the year when the world is commemorating 400 years since the death of, undoubtedly, one of the most influential writers of the English speaking world, The Abbey Theatre celebrates the occasion by staging one of the bard’s widely known, but sometimes very unjustly underestimated, plays – Othello. Having brought up recently such productions as King Lear, A Midsummer’s Night Dream and Twelfth Night, it’s the first time ever for the Abbey Theatre to stage the play about the jealous Moor.
And, the man who was appointed to direct the piece couldn’t have been chosen any better. Apart from having served as an Artistic Director of The Abbey Theatre, Joe Dowling has a very vast and very profound experience of re-imgaining Shakespearean work for the last couple of decades.
In the best of Shakespearean traditions, Othello is a story filled with flawed human beings and anti-heroes who give in to the worst of their own weaknesses. Othello (played by Peter Macon) is a Moorish General in the Venetian army who secretly marries the local Senator Brabantio’s (played by Peter Gowen) beautiful daughter Desdemona (played by Rebecca O’Mara). Despite her father’s disapproval and unreasonable rage about the newly concealed union, Desdemona and Othello are happily married and deeply in love.
The news about the Turkish attack on Cyprus is soon to arrive, and Othello is quickly summoned to be re-settled on the island as part of the army corps. Othello, as the general of the army, had promoted Cassio (played by Barry John O’Connor) to be the lieutenant to his army. That immensely angers Iago (played by Marty Rea) who, also a soldier, considers himself to be better suited for such a promotion. From this moment on Iago has an axe to grind with Othello. Being a very poisonous and ill-natured person, Iago doesn’t simply want to prove that he is better than Cassio, he wants to take revenge on Othello by such means that only a truly evil person could come up with.
This play can easily be considered one of Shakespeare’s masterpieces in mind games and personality transformations. From a gentle loving husband, Othello quickly becomes a blind jealous puppet trapped in all the lies and stories that he has been fed by Iago. But the audience still pities and feels for Othello no matter what his actions are; for his actions are those of an extremely confused and sick animal who can’t see much beyond his own nose. Iago, in his place, who is the real anti-hero of this story, does not win the audience’s compassion for he’s a rotten person who has no remorse for his ill actions.
In this brilliant and and what is set to be a memorable production, the stage set is very much part of the play. The wonderful Riccardo Hernandez together with the amazing Sinéad McKenna (lighting designer) put us, the audience, from the outside world into the real place of action – Othello’s head. Very simple at first sight, the set design allows us to experience what is happening inside Othello’s mind when he’s being input the ideas of Desdemona’s infidelity.
The beautiful reflections on the warm painted beach, while the characters sit on the cold marble stage benches are a strong representation of two sides of one coin; the play of light and shadow is amazingly symbolic. Nothing creates a more dramatic atmosphere than the lighting and sound affects moving in unison with the action and the energy of the scene.
The beautiful ensemble of sixteen actors is the true force of this production. Each one of them with their own easily-distinguishable resonating voices and perfectly chosen army-style costumes brings Othello from the military Cyprus of the sixteenth century to the modern-day Ireland.
Othello, the tragedy of the Moor of Venice, runs in The Abbey Theatre until June 11th. Unlike any previous productions, the audience of Othello will be able to experience the play from the Abbey stage itself. There is a very limited number of tickets available, so do not miss your opportunity. For more info or to book tickets, please, visit: https://www.abbeytheatre.ie/whats_on/event/othello
Unforgettable Lines 