Directorial Assignment: Othello
My directorial assignment will be based on
Shakespeare’s play, Othello. I want
my version to focus on several important parts of the play. I would want my
version of Othello to mainly focus on
the theme of deception that engineers Othello’s fall that destroys his life and
that shows his descent as a character. I want to show how Desdemona’s father,
Brabantio, plants the seed of doubt in Othello and claims that Desdemona will
betray him just as she has betrayed him. This scene will be a foreshadowing of how
this changes his life from working out as a promising gang leader to forever
killing his chances of freedom (literally) as he is sent to prison in the end
for killing Desdemona. I want these subtleties of doubt to be a big plot focus,
but where I would want to emphasize the spiraling of these characters would be on
how a drug, alcohol and disco induced environment influence the damning
decisions each character makes. I would display this scene in the back room of
the club Brabantio owns. This room has burgundy wallpaper, with shag black
carpet, and cabinets made of wood that line the walls with a wooden desk in the
middle of the back wall. A green chair sits behind the wooden desk and this is
where the Duke, the big drug boss, sits wearing a white suit with shades on.
The door opens to let loud music from the club welcome Othello into the room
where Duke and Brabantio are waiting. The door closes muffling the loud music and
Brabantio has the chance to tell the big boss Duke about his daughter’s
marriage and how he was betrayed by the street rat who he graciously put a roof
over and how he has taken advantage of his sweet and naïve daughter. Right here
the dialogue would follow the same points, but I would want the dialogue to be
set for the 70’s and contain more slang and be with American accents. I then
would have the Duke ask Othello to call in Iago, who would go and find
Desdemona somewhere in the middle of the dancing crowd outside. Desdemona would
come in with Emilia holding each other and laughing, still immersed in the fun
they were having outside. At this point Desdemona would have focused on her
father and walk in between Othello and her father covering the desk behind her.
She would start her speech and at the point where she fully recognizes Othello
as her husband, who she is loyal to, she would grab Othello’s hand and go to
his side. Duke would accept everything as all being well, but Brabantio would
go into one corner of the room make himself a drink, take the drink in one gulp
throw the glass on the floor in front of him, say Desdemona will betray
Othello, and walk out of the room slamming the door. This would be the last
time that we would see Brabantio, leaving the Duke to put Othello at the front
of the club and this is where a moment of terror would arise, where a competing
gang would be threatening to encroach onto this “turf”. It would be stifled by
the main boss of the other gang being sent to jail and that gang coming across
inner gang struggles, leaving Othello and his men safe. The pivotal scene where
Iago tells Othello of the alleged affair between Desdemona and Cassio, like the
original play, this moment changes the overall tone. I would want this scene to
also happen within the back room of the club. The club is loud with many people
dancing lights flashing the spectrum of a rainbow, white seating cushions line
the walls and Iago in one corner spots Othello. Othello is sitting in a VIP
section of the club, being influenced by many illegal substances and alcohol.
Right here Iago finds his opportunity to start putting ideas into Othello’s
clouded mind and see how it affects him. Iago would whisper something into
Othello’s ear, which the audience would not hear, but Othello’s face would
express concern and anger. Othello would grab Iago and force him through the
crowd of people and into the back room. Here Othello would get angry at Iago
and we would find out that Iago has started his plan of creating jealousy. I
find act V important, but specifically where all the intrigue (started by Iago)
starts to play out completely with Iago getting Roderigo to stab Cassio (Iago
also stabs him), Iago tells everyone that Bianca was the one behind Cassio’s
murder conspiracy, and where Othello confronts Desdemona about the affair,
later killing her. I would want to also focus on the intriguing scenes between
Roderigo and Iago, especially in the scenes where Iago convinces Roderigo to do
things that would inevitably affect the downturn of all the characters. I would
want Roderigo to be younger than most of the characters, this would just add to
the menacing way that Iago convinces Roderigo to do things. Roderigo would see
Iago as a trustworthy brother figure and would want to trust in what he says
hoping he has the best interest for him. These scenes would probably be the
ones that I would want to be the most terrifying or menacing because of how intriguing
their relationship plays out because we see how Iago is able to control a youngish
boy and has no problem doing so, effecting how we see him have no problem in controlling
and unraveling of the misfortune within the play.
I would want to set my version of the Othello play within the disco era of 1970’s
Los Angeles, where I would be focusing on the crime life of gangs and how rivalries,
drugs and alcohol derail the dynamics of each character. I wanted to set my
play in the 1970’s because I thought that would be an interesting decade that
aids the development of drug and crime life in American cities. I also thought
it would be interesting to delve into the interracial coupling of Othello and
Desdemona and use 1970’s America as a backdrop to illustrate the racial
implications during this time to heighten the intensity of the play. I
specifically chose Los Angeles due to the big city aspect that facilitates the
gang violence, drugs, and party scene that I really want to emphasize within
this play.
The important character dynamics that would
determine my casting decisions would be dependent on how each character carries
their individuality and how this individual personality melds in influencing
the other characters. How well the actor playing Iago interacts with all the
other characters matters and I would want him to be this super mysterious
figure that seems stoic and quiet in a handsome humble way, but really the
audience finds out he hates everyone. I want his intentions of doing everyone
harm to be obvious to the audience, that he is ambitious for the position that
Othello holds. Iago should express his feelings that he deserves it more, he
feels that he has done more within the organization, gaining profits and
expanding the business and he has not stupidly gotten with the club owners
daughter and does not delve into their product supply. I feel that Iago is that character that has to
be likeable to the other characters in the play, but must completely be hated
by the audience. I would want Iago to have chemistry with everyone, due to his
quietness and attractive façade he would seem vulnerable and make everyone want
to be around him trying to figure him out and make him feel welcomed. I want
the audience to know he hates that character even if the character seems
oblivious. I would also like for the actor playing Othello to be someone that
seems like a sane figure that can take charge and take a hold of a room as he
walks on stage. I want his dynamic with Iago to be different at that pivotal
moment where we can see that click from self- assured character to a broken
figure that is easily manipulated, a complete 360 of a character change.
I want the female actors to have a powerful
presence within the play where their moments on stage impact the audience and
express a powerful attitude towards promoting a feminist voice within a
testosterone filled drug ring. I do want Desdemona’s character to be an angelic
consciousness, where she disagrees with the drug business, but obeys the rules
and circumstances she grew up in and married into. Whereas Emilia’s character
would be a contrast to Desdemona voicing her approval of making money and
generating great drug business can only benefit their livelihoods. Both women
would be bonded by their belief in their rights as woman who want to be
individuals within society. Though, Desdemona would share her strong beliefs
only to Emilia on stage, but Emilia shares them openly in front of other male
characters. I would not want to change the main historical way that Othello has
been casted in the past, where Othello would be African American, and Desdemona
would be white. I would want to diversify the rest of the cast, not having
Othello being the only one that was not white. I feel like this could be
effective in placing the demographic of gang related issues within L.A. in a
semi-historical way. Having Othello have an Asian friend in Cassio would not be
strange due to low income communities being built around primarily minority
residents. I feel that expressing the race difference between Desdemona and
Othello is where the race issues should be focused on and make sense in
creating a struggle and impossible romance between a white woman and black man
in 1970 America.
I would want my stage to be fully equipped with
the most elaborate set design. I would want each background to have a 70’s
flare that clearly represented the environment that the characters were in. I
would only have three main locations that the characters would frequent, a
disco club, a disco club back room, and a bedroom. The main sound effects would
be the background music that reflects the mood of the scenes coming up and that
would be relevant to the 70’s music scene. Specifically, regarding the music as
an important part I would want the play to start and set the mood with “Papa
was a Rolling Stone” by the Temptations and end in the same way as we see
Othello being carted off to jail. I would want all the costumes to be decade
appropriate with the 70’s style, with a disco centered wardrobe. I would want
Desdemona to be dressed in more flowy white dresses and Farrah Fawcett hair
with glitter on her face. Where Emilia would where bright oranges and hair that
is super big where she wears gold medallions and a gold snake arm band, to show
how independently bad ass she is. The male wardrobe would be typical corduroy,
silk shirts with gold necklaces with thick boots.
I would like to focus on the female
interactions and how the women within the play participate with the play
itself. Focusing on how they react and act to the decisions being made around
them. I find it interesting that the play starts off with Roderigo being mad
about the relationship between Othello and Desdemona, as Roderigo wanted to
marry her, but that Desdemona married the person she chose rather than someone
her father chose. I also think it is fascinating that the one person who
reveals all of the disparaging crimes of Iago’s contriving plan was his wife,
Emilia. Emilia throughout the play seems to be controlled by Iago and seems to
be a tool that Iago uses, but in the end this woman realizes everything her husband
Iago did, and tells the truth changing crimes into justice. I would want to
show in my version that Emilia acts on her own accord and speaks her mind, but
is still controlled by Iago because despite being a modern woman she
subconsciously follows those archaic rules implemented on woman that they
should do whatever men say. I would do this to express the oppression that
women still faced, and the oppression that Emilia faces as Iago’s partner, even
though she wants to be her own person she cannot escape that evil due to her
financial stability and upbringing. One thing that I find extremely interesting
about this play is that it starts off with attempting to push toward violence,
but it never fully escalates to that not until we hit that turning point for
Othello where the play begins to display death. What I want to display with
this theme is that violence is prevalent throughout the whole play, but that it
does not completely mingle with the inner workings of their clique until the
turning point, where everyone turns on everyone. I want Iago to die at the end
because I think this would escalate the plays violence and provide a sense of
justice. I want Iago to be the clear villain that pushed Othello to the edge
and have Othello be the one to kill him. Justice is served because with the
same hands he killed Desdemona with, he kills Iago the perpetrator of all
things bad. Having Othello go to jail also provides that sense of justice and
leaves room for repentance on Othello’s part.
Directorial
Part 2
I think the Globe’s production with
director Claire van Kampen did much with
Othello in terms of engaging with the play’s scenes of tragedy on stage.
The Globe production focused on making likable characters like Othello, Cassio,
Desdemona, and Emilia stay likeable and show how tragic their characters are
once they fall into Iago’s tricks. This production was more of comedic version,
with how Mark Rylance portrayed Iago, creating a strange sense of funny moments
entangled within tragic scenes of impending doom. They were also able to make
Iago a likable and funny character that seems like an unassuming villain.
The key moments that the play was
built around were the parts with Cassio and his journey falling from grace. The
scene I speak of is Act 2 Scene 3 where Iago convinces Cassio to drink, letting
Cassio lose his senses and lets him relax until finally Cassio is so oblivious
to the trap set for him that he disrespects his honor and his discharged of his
duties by Othello. This scene within the production was a lengthy and
highlighted point within the production, where there was a lot of things going
on with Cassio and other actors. I think this scene seemed to be a focused
moment because it seemed more fleshed out and directed with care because there
was dancing, and a set was placed on stage with a table and chairs with bottles
of wine. The actors had choreographed dancing scenes and there was music that
grabbed one’s attention. I think this scene was also a key moment because it
explicitly showcased Iago’s true intentions regarding ruining Cassio’s
reputation, which is a pivotal moment in the play because it demonstrated how
far Iago would go to dispose of Cassio. Another scene that I felt the
production made a key moment was the scene where Othello kills Desdemona. Act 5
Scene 2 is when Othello confronts Desdemona and tells her that she must find
forgiveness and when she still refuses to confess to being unfaithful, which
she is innocent of, he loses his temper and in the thralls of passionate anger
he suffocates her. This scene seemed to be a key moment and at the same time
was a terrifying scene. The care and detail that was put into the staging of
this scene in the Globe production made this scene more physically horrifying
and emotionally jarring. A bed was brought out onto the stage in order to place
Desdemona and Othello in a single enclosed space that left no room for escape,
where they shared intimate moments and their last moment was just as intimate,
but with Othello grabbing the begging Desdemona from behind her and bringing
her body down and her face out of sight, but her legs and body withering
between the sheets on the bed created the illusion that he was really
suffocating her. The scene was so intimate it left me as an audience member
feeling guilty for witnessing the scene. This scene is important because it
shows Othello himself getting his hands dirty and killing Desdemona, in one
moment displaying his characters flip and decent from honorable general to
jealous murderer.
The Globe’s production of Othello
seemed to be set in an unidentifiable time- period with the wardrobe, mixing
between the military men, civilians, and states people. The military uniforms
seemed to resemble those military uniforms of the early 20th
century. The civilian clothing could be identified with more traditional
Shakespeare clothing, other than Emilia who stuck out with a fabulous modern
collection of clothing. Lastly, the states people were dressed mainly in Roman
robes of traditional senatorial members. The clothing seemed to be the only way
to indicate when this play was taking place, but there was such a mixture of
choices that I do not think there was a set time. I feel this was done to make
this story of jealousy and race stand out and mark it as a timeless story.
The Globe’s set decisions seemed to
be very minimalist for certain spaces to let the actors be in their own space
and let them use the stage in any way they wanted. Other times, while still
being very minimalist they used vibrant reds on stage which I felt was eye
catching and helped change locations on one stage, red flags matching
senatorial council robes. They used crates to recreate ships which was so much
fun to watch since we saw the actors being transported across the yard onto the
stage creating an effect of movement and aiding in showing time lapse. The use
of stage props mainly set environmental settings for the scenes; chairs, table,
and wine bottles to place characters in a bar. Desdemona’s death scene had a
bed and elaborately decorated bed frame, framing the scene on stage and helping
focus on the picture in front of us, Othello killing his wife.
This direction of Othello incorporated music and singing
and this was said to be a directorial decision made by Claire van Kampen. She
felt that the play itself worked in verse that also worked as a perfect stage
for adding a chorus. She wanted to use many of the minor characters to add in
that musical tone, as well as having two dancers who added a physicality and
movement to the stage.
There were several moments within
the Globe production that I felt similar in moments that I wanted to add to my
version. These similarities had to do with Iago and his presence on the stage,
Mark Rylance’s portrayal of Iago was how I wanted my versions Iago to be
expressed on stage. I liked how unassuming Iago was with his malicious acts and
how he was able to trick the other characters with his “honest” vibe and had
everyone’s trust and confidence. Until the end when he is discovered, we see a
terrifying man stripped of his honest and bumbling old man act to reveal a true
villain. I did think it was different from my version in the way that I would
want the audience to be more included in knowing Iago’s purposes and malicious
attempts to foil Othello and Cassio’s lives. The director, Claire van Kampen
explained that this choice of leaving the audience unaware of Iago’s
horribleness was done on purpose, to cut more of his lines to make up time for
the two- hour play, but also to keep the audience oblivious and surprised to
find out the tragic ending. Another similarity I found that the Globe production
had with my version was the use of a diversified cast. Director van Kampen used
a diverse cast because she describes learning of a multicultural Venice in the
1600’s and that is the kind of world that we are living in right now. She also
explains that she knows Othello is
all about the idea of Othello being an outsider within Venice and that she
really wanted to focus on that in her production, she casted her Othello with
the American actor, Andre Holland. She describes that Holland spoke differently,
with an American accent, emphasizing him as an outsider. This was similar in my
idea of wanting to diversify my Othello cast,
but my reasons are different. I wanted to diversify my cast and add several
people of different races mainly because I wanted to demonstrate 1970’s L.A.
demographics and represent a lower, crime society that is primarily comprised
of different cultures. Lastly, the scene that I found that was surprisingly
similar in my vision of Othello was the use of the bed, within Desdemona’s death
scene. I wanted this scene to be explicit, uncomfortable, and dark taking place
in a single room where the bed in the room would be the focus of the scene
where the actors would be using as a set piece to show intimacy also using it
for Desdemona to escape from Othello and be chased around the bed in fear of
him, ultimately both of them ending up on the bed her dying, having her body
lay there on the bed in form of exhibition.
I feel that this play was
exceptionally effective in portraying the feelings and purpose of Shakespeare’s
Othello. I felt that despite some
changes to their version it was relatively loyal to a play version. I do feel
though that my version is more effective in a modern and reimagined Othello. I feel that my version is more
movie-esque and has more graphic and compelling sequences of the scenes that
intensify the drama and action. My version, while it is sent in the past,
1970’s L.A., is still more relatable and fun to watch and see, where crime and
parties are the focus. I liked the Globe’s version and their non-traditional
use of dancing sequences and added musical elements, but they seemed out of
place. My version will incorporate scenes of dancing in the background with
music that some people watching could recognize and it would make sense. I
believe my scenes of dancing and partying would aid in telling the story I want
to tell, creating the perfect environment that fosters how the characters act
and how they happen upon certain situations.
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