Othello – Sport for Jove

Overview

Most Shakespearean protagonists have a fatal flaw, and people say that Othello's is jealousy. That's only half right. Othello's jealousy is definitely not cool, but his real problem is being such a dick about it.

People also say that Shakespeare's stories transcend place and time to resonate with everyone, always. That's true on some levels but on others I'm getting real tired of your shit, Will. Othello is so unsympathetic. He doesn't level with Desdemona and allow her any right of reply, and while that might suit the plot line it's really annoying for a contemporary audience, especially after the week that last week was in Australian politics. Every time the guy started soliloquising my own internal monologue was going "shut up shut up shut up." Ivan Donato's performance is arresting enough that it often eclipses that infuriating plot flaw but really Othello, shut up.

Good thing, then, that the villain, Iago, has a lot more stage time than the hero. Damien Ryan is masterful. He nails the text, beautifully and casually. This Iago is a believable bad guy, a sleazy and contemporary opportunist, and not a cartoon. The whole cast, actually, is strong. The director, Matt Edgerton, says he stuck to the script and chose exploration over reinvention. That's true for the most part, and this production is pretty straight. Edgerton has, however, inserted an unsettling opening scene to situate the script in a modern military setting, and it works. The stage is dimly lit, and a man lies still on a stretcher, his face covered. Another character pours a stream of water onto his head.

And that brings us, finally, to all the water. It's everywhere! In the script, says Edgerton, and in the sound design, and, literally, on the stage. Venice is a sinking city, and that parallels neatly with Othello's undoing. Edgerton's creative team have poured puddles on to the specially-built stage, and the characters splash around on top of it. It kind of works; it looks a bit messy. But it is, for obvious reasons, carefully stage-managed, and as such doesn't come close to evoking the tumultuous storm raging in and around Othello. There are real limits to being too literal. Subtler elements, like David Stalley's sound design, dripping and echoing, articulate those ideas much more gracefully.