"the green-eyed monster, which doth mock the meat it feeds on"
I missed the Wednesday reading meme this week because, due to being away and then busy last week, I haven't finished "The Winter King" so I'm still immersed in the not necessarily comfortable court of Henry VII. To make up for that have a play review. We were lucky enough to go to see "Othello" at the National Theatre last night. It stars two of my favourite actors Adrian Lester and Rory Kinnear so I was expecting it to be good but it turned out to be amazing.
I don't know Othello particularly well and it's definitely not one of my favourite Shakespeare plays but this production was one of the most powerful performances of Shakespeare that I've ever seen I think. This production gives the play a modern day setting of a military camp which actually works well in adding a dimension of claustrophobia and easily spread gossip. Adrian Lester plays Othello at the beginning as a man happy and at ease with himself and it's terrifying to see him disintegrate, both mentally and almost physically due to the machinations of Iago. Iago, played by Rory Kinnear, is the kind of bluff "hail fellow, well met" kind of person who seems everyone's friend and easy to trust even when he's enjoying himself enormously turning them all on each other. Othello's marriage to Desdemona had been secret and she had lied to her father about it, which is what gives Iago his idea of how to bring Othello down, because as her father says to Othello if she's lied to her father what else will she lie about. Olivia Vinall plays Desdemona as outgoing and loving, someone whose open friendliness to others can easily be misconstrued. Once the idea that she might be having an affair enters Othello's mind he has no idea how to deal with his jealousy and his obsession with it consumes him turning the controlled confident character of the opening scenes into a person in the grip of uncontrollable rage. It was real edge of the seat stuff and Desdemona's murder made the audience gasp in shock, even though I presume most people knew it was coming. It was quite a relief to see the actress come to take her curtain call at the end as it all felt so real. It was one of those evenings when watching a play can be both tough and exhilarating and it's a credit to the acting and the production (and the author) that a 400-year-old play can seem quite so immediate.
In other new my mother has been entertaining/annoying me
Last week she managed to mislay her mobile phone and its charger, lose her house keys and lock poor F her home help in the house for three hours due to automatically locking the front door on the inside and swanning off with the spare key. Fortunately the phone and charger have since been found before I had to go and get her another one but the house keys are still missing though luckily unmarked with the address. I just hope F is not on the verge of quitting due accidental imprisonment! As Mum said "well, at least I'm not dull."
Niece R and her boyfriend M may be moving in with Mum briefly in September when R starts her job. This involves a certain amount of clearing up (that's an understatement: it's a modern day equivalent of one of the Labour of Hercules). On Tuesday I was reduced to a gibbering wreck.
Me: (through clenched teeth) why did you keep this (this was a leaflet put through the door in 1990 to judge by the other documents in the disintegrating plastic carrier bag)?
Mum: I didn't keep it, I just failed to throw it away.
Me: Grrrrrr....
I don't know Othello particularly well and it's definitely not one of my favourite Shakespeare plays but this production was one of the most powerful performances of Shakespeare that I've ever seen I think. This production gives the play a modern day setting of a military camp which actually works well in adding a dimension of claustrophobia and easily spread gossip. Adrian Lester plays Othello at the beginning as a man happy and at ease with himself and it's terrifying to see him disintegrate, both mentally and almost physically due to the machinations of Iago. Iago, played by Rory Kinnear, is the kind of bluff "hail fellow, well met" kind of person who seems everyone's friend and easy to trust even when he's enjoying himself enormously turning them all on each other. Othello's marriage to Desdemona had been secret and she had lied to her father about it, which is what gives Iago his idea of how to bring Othello down, because as her father says to Othello if she's lied to her father what else will she lie about. Olivia Vinall plays Desdemona as outgoing and loving, someone whose open friendliness to others can easily be misconstrued. Once the idea that she might be having an affair enters Othello's mind he has no idea how to deal with his jealousy and his obsession with it consumes him turning the controlled confident character of the opening scenes into a person in the grip of uncontrollable rage. It was real edge of the seat stuff and Desdemona's murder made the audience gasp in shock, even though I presume most people knew it was coming. It was quite a relief to see the actress come to take her curtain call at the end as it all felt so real. It was one of those evenings when watching a play can be both tough and exhilarating and it's a credit to the acting and the production (and the author) that a 400-year-old play can seem quite so immediate.
In other new my mother has been entertaining/annoying me
Last week she managed to mislay her mobile phone and its charger, lose her house keys and lock poor F her home help in the house for three hours due to automatically locking the front door on the inside and swanning off with the spare key. Fortunately the phone and charger have since been found before I had to go and get her another one but the house keys are still missing though luckily unmarked with the address. I just hope F is not on the verge of quitting due accidental imprisonment! As Mum said "well, at least I'm not dull."
Niece R and her boyfriend M may be moving in with Mum briefly in September when R starts her job. This involves a certain amount of clearing up (that's an understatement: it's a modern day equivalent of one of the Labour of Hercules). On Tuesday I was reduced to a gibbering wreck.
Me: (through clenched teeth) why did you keep this (this was a leaflet put through the door in 1990 to judge by the other documents in the disintegrating plastic carrier bag)?
Mum: I didn't keep it, I just failed to throw it away.
Me: Grrrrrr....