Directorial Final

Directorial Parts 1 & 2: Othello

PART 1:

Key Moments:

·      Iago’s manipulations are a central plot point to Shakespeare’s Othello. They are the main motivation of the play and are overall what keeps the story moving. Because of this, I would choose to focus mainly on these scenes and the consequences of Iago’s actions and schemes. I would keep every one of Iago's manipulations, but tone down the overdramatic flair to avoid the nagging feeling of an implausible plot. This comes through mostly in the many different monologues in the play. Both he and Othello tend to go off in monologues for what can feel like unnecessary amounts of time. Othello especially gets a little overworked about something as simple as seeing Cassio with his handkerchief. If they replace the handkerchief with something that is more reasonable to be angry about I feel this will help accomplish a less overdramatic feel overall.

o   Act 1: Iago’s manipulation of Roderigo by convincing him to tell Brabantio of Desdemona and Othello’s marriage.

o    Act 2: Iago’s manipulation of Iago of Roderigo to make Cassio look hotheaded and unstable. This is, in turn, used to make him look less-than in Othello’s eyes. Also in act two, he manipulates Desdemona into helping Cassio get his position restored which plants the idea of their affair into Othello’s head

o   Act 3: Iago begins to further the work he started Desdemona on by officially bringing up the idea of the affair with Othello and providing possible ways it started/continued to happen without his notice.

o   Act 4: Here, Iago put the whole handkerchief ordeal into play as further proof of the affair. In this manipulation, he uses his wife, messes with Othello, and sets up Cassio. Then, similarly to how he manipulated Cassio in act 2, Iago convinces Lodovico that Othello is unstable which is backed up by his previous manipulation which led to Othello harming Desdemona. Then, when Roderigo confronts Iago about his actions, Iago sucks him back in with yet another manipulation.

o   Act 5: Iago has convinced Roderigo to attack and kill Cassio, which he knows won’t end in his favor. He then maims Cassio from behind, blames it on Roderigo and then stabs r in the heart to punish him. After that, he tries to blame Bianca for Roderigo’s actions and tries to convince everyone that Cassio killed Roderigo.

·      The other scenes that I find very important are those that take a closer look at Othello’s skin color. These scenes that focus on race, in my opinion, are very integral to the play overall but especially for acts one and two. They give Brabantio a purpose as the initial villain figure and can be seen as a motivating factor behind the start of Iago’s manipulations. Using the theme of race creates a very interesting dynamic both in Shakespeare’s day and still today. By giving these scenes more attention, I think it would really bring a lot of depth to the play that Shakespeare was trying to get at.

o   Act 1: Brabantio’s reaction to Othello and Desdemona’s marriage is a visceral one. While he claims it is due to Othello’s class (and most likely is) I also feel it is due to his skin color. This is something I would bring more to the forefront in my version.

o   The subtle stereotypes thrown in throughout the play would also play a bigger part in my version, as explained later.

o   Iago originally sets out to take Cassio’s position but, in the end, also aims to take down Othello. This is not given much explanation, but considering the many racist remarks Iago makes, I believe it to be a race issue.

·      Awe-inspiring Scene

o   Act Five Scene Two is an amazing scene and one of my favorites. Emilia’s cunning thinking and fearless actions really gave the play an ending that saved it from being just an unnecessarily dramatic tragedy about some jealous man. And the fact that a woman was the one to see Iago’s schemes and put the pieces together makes me beyond happy. And the way she told off her husband in front of everyone and threw the social conventions of the time out the window is an inspiring and empowering moment. I’d really like to emphasize this scene in my version.

Setting:

·      My version of Othello would have a modern-day setting, in a big city somewhere in America. I think it would be really interesting to focus on the theme of race already present in this play and make it more central.

o   To do this I would have the Venetian nobles and military become the different ranks of a modern police force. This would mimic the military aspect of the play but in a slightly more modern and accessible way. Brabantio, Lodovico, and co. would be higher up detectives while Othello, Cassio, and Iago are beat cop types.

o   Othello would be the up-and-coming, best-of-his-class officer who just so happens to be the only black policeman on the squad. Closeted racism would be a major theme within the detectives and while they respect Othello, they would never allow him to rise to a higher position, thereby mirroring Brabantio’s reaction to Desdemona's marriage.

o   The Turks that are the cause for Shakespeare’s change of setting from Venice to Cyprus would become a gang causing a conflict that is easily resolved (similarly to the original) but sparks the main conflict of the play itself i.e. Iago’s manipulations and racism.

o   The main plot points would all stay the same just with this change in setting to a more relevant time and topic.

Characters:

·      First of all, the only thing that’s really going to change in terms of the history of casting in Othello, is that the women will be played by women and Othello will be played by an actual man of color—not someone in blackface.

·      Names: Unlike most adaptations of Shakespeare with major setting changes, I would probably keep the original names. I would try to keep my version as close to the original plot as possible despite the time change and language and so don’t really see the point in coming up with similar yet different names.

·      Personality: Similarly to the names, most of the characters' characteristics would stay the same. Iago’s two-facedness, Emilia’s strength, Desdemona’s devotion and so on. I would probably tone down Othello’s tendency to be overdramatic though because at some points it gets a bit annoying. One was to do this would be to play up Iago’s ability to feel trustworthy would help Othello’s reaction seem more reasonable. As I said before I would make Brabantio and Iago’s racist tendencies more obvious and a bigger cause of their actions.

        

Staging:

·      Set Design: While Othello was traditionally staged with bare sets and few locations, I would probably do the complete opposite of that. I think that if I am going to put this in modern day America, it is going to need a bit more set design than originally intended. Reading Othello, they don’t give much indication of where they are in each scene, and that is something that would definitely have to change. I would include sets like Brabantio’s house, a police department or two (Venice and Cyprus), and some of the fights that happen in the courtyard would most likely change over to a parking lot or alleyway.

·      Costume Design: Costumes would be pretty typical for 2018 fashion. Those playing detectives would wear casual suits, police officers would be in regular uniforms and the women would be dressed in everyday clothing based on their financial status.

·      The only sound effects I can see being used would most likely be gunshots for the fights that were originally down with swords, maybe some punches thrown in there for excitement.

Extras

·      The Drama: One thing that I would definitely not keep in my version of Othello would be the tendency for the melodramatic. As much as I love a good villainous monologue I don’t really think Iago needs to give three of them. And Othello can take things a little out of proportion when he is mad at Desdemona so that would also be toned down. To do this, I would really play up the mischievous qualities in Iago and make it clear to the audience what he is doing. If we can more clearly see his hand in everything then it won’t feel like such a shock when Othello starts to go off the rails at the end.

·      Emilia: My favorite character by far is Emilia. She is the most impressive in my eyes, and I really think it would be fun to see more of her throughout the beginning of the play if possible. I really like seeing the character development she has here; going from following every order her husband gives her to telling him off is an amazing subplot and character arc. I don’t think that giving the character of Emilia more stage time would really change how we see the end of the play. If anything, it would make it a more tragic ending as we have grown to love and know her character better than originally planned and then see her cruelly murdered.

·      Iago: When focusing on Iago’s character and his manipulations throughout the play, I think it would make the most sense to focus his motivations on Othello’s skin color. This particularly makes sense for the modern audience this version would be performed to and definitely fits into the changes I have made. To emphasize this, I would put extra emphasis on the few slurs he makes towards Othello (but in modern language). As I said previously, I would like to really make his manipulations obvious to the audience, but it would definitely need to be well hidden from Othello and the others. This way we can better believe that Othello has reason to murder his wife. As for Iago’s murdering of his wife, I would suggest that be put down to his ultimate loss of control over events at the end of the play. Making it more of a whirlwind. Show that he didn’t mean for things to get this out of control. A real he-didn’t-mean-to-do-it-but-thought-he-had-to-in-the-instant type of murder.

PART 2:

            The Globe’s 2018 production of Othello was a more or less traditional interpretation of what would have been performed there four hundred some years ago. Michelle Terry decided that most of this play would be centered around Iago, much in the same way I had decided to do. This is one of the only ways in which our directorial decisions matched. And even then, our interpretations of Iago differed.

Terry’s Iago was one that was cunning on a whole new level. He was a master manipulator and great improvisator. While Mark Rylance is a much older man than I had envisioned to be playing this part he made the character so double-sided that it was impossible to see Othello’s reaction as over the top. He appeared bumbling, innocent, and trustworthy when in public, but his monologues to the audience where played as witty, smart, and playful.

This playfulness was played out through his joking manner which worked well for this production but would not help him in my version. For the Globe, having him dancing and singing and joking with the audience led them to have more trust in him as well. Which only ended in more tragedy for us all when things came crashing down. It also helped add to the creepy intensity of the character in hindsight of the play, which is an aspect I would like to add to my version (though not so much the humor, more the bumbling innocence).

While laughing along with Iago was not something I really expected to be doing during a production of Othello, neither did I expect there to be quite so much joyous dancing and singing. While probably traditionally accurate, I just can’t get behind it. Knowing what is going to happen to these characters makes the happiness of those moments feel off kilter. I feel that Terry’s inclusion of these scenes was used to both increase a sense of sympathy towards Iago and keep things on the more traditional side. Incorporating the singing and dancing into my version would definitely not flow with the theme, but it worked relatively well at the Globe and did help to further the character of Iago.

As I said before, this production was relatively traditional and did not include much gender-bending or cross-dressing. There was no mixed-era costuming and it had a relatively simple set design with only a few reusable props. They also kept all the same language and for the most part, didn’t add any extra lines of their own. So now our two productions are in totally different realms making it hard to compare them. Considering Terry’s focus was not on race in the way mine was, I feel keeping it set traditionally was the best was to do it; especially considering it was being done at the Globe.

Speaking of thematic focus, I feel they really missed out on not thinking about this play in terms of race. While Iago is a fun character to play around with and his manipulations are what give this play momentum, he can only do so much messing about before things fall apart. By giving him the clear motivation of race this play takes on a whole new level of depth despite being hundreds of years old. This to me is the only way in which my version might be ever so slightly more effective. But again, it is hard to compare the effectiveness of two plays that have different thematic focuses.

They were lucky, though, in getting to cast more people of color. Terry had a very diverse cast which was amazing to see and not really something that could happen in my version without undermining the point being made. They were all amazing and wonderful actors that were perfect for the parts they played. This is one area that they definitely broke from traditional ways. They had women playing both traditionally male characters (and the actual female ones as well) and no one was in blackface—thank God. I do feel that the casting of a black woman as Emilia was an interesting choice considering some of the possible motivations for Iago’s manipulations in the first place. This definitely cuts out any chances for it being racially motivated which, again, I feel is a missed opportunity.

Another major area where my production would differ from the Globe’s is in the character of Emilia herself. Sheila Atim was an absolutely amazing actress, and similarly to how I felt when first reading this play, I would love to see more of her. Unfortunately, that was not an opportunity we got in this particular production. Terry actually cut some of my favorite lines from Emilia piecing together Iago’s exploits. It was heartbreaking for me to realize this as she is by far my favorite character in Othello. Cutting her scenes takes away some of the only strength we see women get shown in Shakespeare. However, I do suppose that it makes her appear less cold-hearted by removing the fact that she has a good feeling Othello was going to murder Desdemona and then does nothing much to stop him.

Overall, I feel that Terry did a good job in casting, set and costume design, and scene focus. It was one of my favorite productions we saw at the Globe this summer. I do believe that she missed out on some important messages that can be found in this play though. The thread of racism and female wit in particular. While our two productions would be entirely different in many ways, I believe mine would be much more impactful in today’s world.

Works Cited

Shakespeare, William. Othello, edited by Michael Neill, New York, Oxford World's Classics,    2006.