(no subject)
So. Othello at The Globe.
The first thing to say is that I studied this play at A Level and that of the 3 people I went with 2 had also studied, 1 actually in my class, meaning we had a slightly odd view of the play before we started.
The two girls standing next to me were actually in tears at the end.
I feel that needed a line of it's own because it tells you something about the play BUT unfortuantely my bunch weren't even close because of an awful tendency to giggle at certain lines that have associations with lessons past.
That said I think it was one of the bext performances of Othello I've seen. I say "one of" because the Othello I saw at the National Theatre was close, their Othello (the character) was better but the rest of the cast were better at The Globe.
Which leads me to try and explain why I didn't like The Globe's depiction of the Moor and... well I'm not sure how to put it into words except to say that I have a problem with the speed of Othello as a play and the necessary speed, therefore, of Othello's descent and in a good version of the play I expect to be distracted or convinced otherwise and here I wasn't. Which is to say that he was perfectly compotent, and in the scene before the Duke and the final scene very moving, but just didn't have the extra sparkle I felt he needed to gain my sympathy.
The true lead of Othello of course is Iago and, well, just wow. I was very taken aback to hear Tim McInnerny was playing him and then I thought of Captain Darling in Blackadder and started to see it. In a way just walking onto stage I realised he was more like my Iago than any I'd seen before because he was older and (I'm sorry Tim, I love you really I do) uglier and much more believable as a seasoned soldier than you normally see. It made him work harder to establish himself as an honest, friendly, loved by all type and it worked so much better for it.
One great example was his relationship with Emilia, who was played by a coloured actress leading to a whole set of readings I hadn't thought of before. He was attractive enough in his (seeming) personality that you believed she'd have chosen him and yet he showed a side to her that wasn't seen anywhere else... there was much more of a feeling that he was hurt deeply by his belief that Othello (and/or Cassio) had slept with her which gave a more personal grudge against Othello.
The other key relationship for Iago though was Roderigo and here, again, this production gave me a whole new reading of the character. He was a melodramatic emo teen type, wouldn't have stood out on LiveJournal. He kept swishing his cape and storming off in a strop. He threw up when it was suggested that Cassio was his rival and whined when he was beaten up and was generally completely brilliant. The difference in age between him and Iago gave a much clearer reasonging for the way he's easily led and their scenes had that great mixture of humour and foreshadowing that really makes a play.
(Sam Crane, incidentally, was the prettiest ;) Which was odd when you consider he was Roderigo who isn't a pretty chracter but he had such a lovely quivery mouth and reminded me irresistably of Michael Brown who was a Globe favourite of mine a few years back)
Cassio had the most ridiculous waxed moustache and played the drunken scene so beautifully you had to love him in a slightly dispairing way. You could see in him a justice in Iago's complaints and yet also a nobility that showed why Othello trusted him. His treatment of Bianca was, as in the play, horrible.
Which leaves us (barring minor characters who deserve love, the Duke and the Clown key amongst them) with Desdemona.
I really really really dislike Desdemona in the play. She's a simpering Miss who runs off with Othello (on a rather spurious footing of love "because she pities him") and then quite passively accepts her death and I just want to shake her. Zoe Tapper came onstage and I feared we were in for the same but instad we got a warm and loving character, obviously very much Othello's girl but also friendly with the other characters and with a humour and character (wonder of wonders!) which actually made me sympathise with her. She even fought back as he tried to kill her just a little. I still don't udnerstand the character but I think this was the closest I came to liking her!
I should, just to finish, give seperate and very fulsome love to the musicians ♥ They had a running battle with the clown from before the play, through the interval and right to the end, The Globe always has good music and this bunch were fantastic. They chatted to the audience in the interval and had everyone joining in and cheering them as they played over the Clown's words. Plus the jig at the end was, as always, lively and great (though Iago refused to join in, understandable as the clown started it and the steps were odd to say the least")
In conclusion? The best Roderigo I've ever even imagined, the best Iago I've seen, the closest to a likeable Desdemona, a spirited Emilia, an acceptable Othello and a solid (more than solid) supporting cast. Well worth the effort of standing that long. I hope the rest of the season lives up to it.
The first thing to say is that I studied this play at A Level and that of the 3 people I went with 2 had also studied, 1 actually in my class, meaning we had a slightly odd view of the play before we started.
The two girls standing next to me were actually in tears at the end.
I feel that needed a line of it's own because it tells you something about the play BUT unfortuantely my bunch weren't even close because of an awful tendency to giggle at certain lines that have associations with lessons past.
That said I think it was one of the bext performances of Othello I've seen. I say "one of" because the Othello I saw at the National Theatre was close, their Othello (the character) was better but the rest of the cast were better at The Globe.
Which leads me to try and explain why I didn't like The Globe's depiction of the Moor and... well I'm not sure how to put it into words except to say that I have a problem with the speed of Othello as a play and the necessary speed, therefore, of Othello's descent and in a good version of the play I expect to be distracted or convinced otherwise and here I wasn't. Which is to say that he was perfectly compotent, and in the scene before the Duke and the final scene very moving, but just didn't have the extra sparkle I felt he needed to gain my sympathy.
The true lead of Othello of course is Iago and, well, just wow. I was very taken aback to hear Tim McInnerny was playing him and then I thought of Captain Darling in Blackadder and started to see it. In a way just walking onto stage I realised he was more like my Iago than any I'd seen before because he was older and (I'm sorry Tim, I love you really I do) uglier and much more believable as a seasoned soldier than you normally see. It made him work harder to establish himself as an honest, friendly, loved by all type and it worked so much better for it.
One great example was his relationship with Emilia, who was played by a coloured actress leading to a whole set of readings I hadn't thought of before. He was attractive enough in his (seeming) personality that you believed she'd have chosen him and yet he showed a side to her that wasn't seen anywhere else... there was much more of a feeling that he was hurt deeply by his belief that Othello (and/or Cassio) had slept with her which gave a more personal grudge against Othello.
The other key relationship for Iago though was Roderigo and here, again, this production gave me a whole new reading of the character. He was a melodramatic emo teen type, wouldn't have stood out on LiveJournal. He kept swishing his cape and storming off in a strop. He threw up when it was suggested that Cassio was his rival and whined when he was beaten up and was generally completely brilliant. The difference in age between him and Iago gave a much clearer reasonging for the way he's easily led and their scenes had that great mixture of humour and foreshadowing that really makes a play.
(Sam Crane, incidentally, was the prettiest ;) Which was odd when you consider he was Roderigo who isn't a pretty chracter but he had such a lovely quivery mouth and reminded me irresistably of Michael Brown who was a Globe favourite of mine a few years back)
Cassio had the most ridiculous waxed moustache and played the drunken scene so beautifully you had to love him in a slightly dispairing way. You could see in him a justice in Iago's complaints and yet also a nobility that showed why Othello trusted him. His treatment of Bianca was, as in the play, horrible.
Which leaves us (barring minor characters who deserve love, the Duke and the Clown key amongst them) with Desdemona.
I really really really dislike Desdemona in the play. She's a simpering Miss who runs off with Othello (on a rather spurious footing of love "because she pities him") and then quite passively accepts her death and I just want to shake her. Zoe Tapper came onstage and I feared we were in for the same but instad we got a warm and loving character, obviously very much Othello's girl but also friendly with the other characters and with a humour and character (wonder of wonders!) which actually made me sympathise with her. She even fought back as he tried to kill her just a little. I still don't udnerstand the character but I think this was the closest I came to liking her!
I should, just to finish, give seperate and very fulsome love to the musicians ♥ They had a running battle with the clown from before the play, through the interval and right to the end, The Globe always has good music and this bunch were fantastic. They chatted to the audience in the interval and had everyone joining in and cheering them as they played over the Clown's words. Plus the jig at the end was, as always, lively and great (though Iago refused to join in, understandable as the clown started it and the steps were odd to say the least")
In conclusion? The best Roderigo I've ever even imagined, the best Iago I've seen, the closest to a likeable Desdemona, a spirited Emilia, an acceptable Othello and a solid (more than solid) supporting cast. Well worth the effort of standing that long. I hope the rest of the season lives up to it.