"Othello" - Richmond Shakespeare Theatre, 2006

Othello

by William Shakespeare

Richmond Shakespeare Theatre
In association with the Acts of Faith Festival 

February – April 2006

This was a five-actor production of Shakespeare’s tragedy abbreviated to 95 minutes in length in order to accommodate school performances. It performed a ten-week run in the chapel at Second Presbyterian Church as part of Richmond’s annual Acts of Faith Festival, and was accompanied by several artistic-theological discussions. Each of the three men played one role each (Othello, Iago, Cassio), and the two women played multiple parts filling out the cast.

The first act was cut almost in entirety, replaced by a movement prologue employing Iago (Robin Pierce)’s “I follow him to serve my turn upon him” speech as a means for him to move the other actors around the stage like chess pieces. This prologue concluded with Othello (Thomas Nowlin)’s beautiful description of his wooing of Desdemona (Dorothy Pawlawski), transitioning from “This is the only witchcraft I have used” to the arrival of the ships at Cyprus.

The story was primarily that of Iago, who was portrayed as a possibly supernatural being, deferential and friendly in dialogue, but hissing and angular in his direct audience address, his entire physicality transforming. The primary document used in this portrayal was C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters; Iago was depicted as a master tempter, able to use everyone’s greatest weaknesses skillfully against them, and gleeful in personal destruction for its own sake. Cassio and Othello, of course, bear responsibility for their actions as well; it is only Desdemona who is ultimately blameless, even neglecting to accuse her husband of her own murder in a final act of forgiveness.

Design was minimal, a bed stage left and a bench downstage in a traditional proscenium staging (chosen to accommodate touring performances). Universal lighting was used in this show, as with all Richmond Shakespeare productions of this era, to increase actor-audience contact; this was particularly effective in Iago’s many soliloquies. Base costumes indicating military-base relationships were augmented by simple add-ons (a hat, a scarf, a sword belt) to indicate character changes.

The violence, as with much of the prologue, was performed in slow motion, with percussive moments of impact: Cassio (Ted Carter)’s stabbing of Roderigo, Iago’s stabbing of Emilia (Cynde Liffick), and the moment of Desdemona’s trachea being crushed.

Othello ran for ten weeks in the chapel at Second Presbyterian Church.

Iago (Robin Pierce) manipulates chess pieces, with the rest of the cast moving in sync behind him as a result. Photo by Andrew Hamm.

 

Othello (Thomas Nowlin) strangles Desdemona (Dorothy Pawlawski) with her own scarf. Photo by Andrew Hamm.

 

Othello (Thomas Nowlin) folds Desdemona's scarf like a flag in preparation for his suicide. Photo by Andrew Hamm.

Richmond Times-Dispatch: "This is a high school student's dream [and] an "Othello" for any Shakespeare lover."