Review: Othello
17 February 2009
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AS AN Othello virgin, the prospect of a three-and-a half hour Othello-thon was an interesting concept.
It's certainly not known as a laugh-a-minute play, so I thought I was in for a serious night, but, bizarrely, the performances became increasingly comical as the show progressed.
Kathryn Hunter's new version is stuck in between trying to be new and creative, and traditional, which was confusing.
Some individual touches, such as the African music representing Othello's culture and the chorus using shards of glass symbolising the waves of the sea (a metaphor for anger), helped make the production stronger, but I wish there had been more of these moments.
Othello's new wife Desdemona (Natalia Tena) is overtly more
sexual than I had believed her to be, and her feisty nature meant she appeared less submissive than in other adaptations of the play.
In one particularly aesthetic scene, she is seen dancing with Othello topless before they go to bed.
The over-the-top acting of Patrice Naiambana (Othello) meant all other characters were rather inconsequential.
As the villain, Lago (Alex Hassel) is just not evil or
penetrating enough.
After Lago plants unsavoury thoughts in Othello's mind about his wife's fidelity, Naiambana flits between long, drawn-out speeches and crazed fits. The problem was that he seemed to be fundamentally loony - and not because of the growing jealousy, which is surely the premise of the play.
The acting was at times farcical and Shakespeare's other characters were totally lost.
The idea that women must obey their masters came through stronger in the second half, particularly as Othello raged around with his whip. Perhaps as a forerunner to the struggle for women's rights, Desdemona fights back with a broken bottle as Othello is strangling her.
Naiambana's high-pitched
wailing and crazed antics made rather a lot of people laugh - not the desired response.
The tragedy about this production of Shakespeare's "most tragic" play was that it was not more of a tragedy.