Othello
The Black Rep
Grandel Theatre
Through February 3
RACBlogger: Debra Kokorudz 

I have to be honest: my knowledge of Shakespeare comes primarily from junior-high required reading and modern movie remakes. Kind of like Cher’s line in the movie Clueless when she corrected a college coed for misquoting a line in Hamlet. She knew that Hamlet didn’t say, “To thine own self be true”, Polonius did, because she “remembers Mel Gibson accurately.” So, I guess I remember Baz Luhrmann accurately. It’s not because I am not intelligent or that I am uninterested in the material. I’d love nothing more than to be able to walk around spouting quotes from Shakespeare all day long just like Captain Picard. But here in St. Louis, we only get so many chances to experience it.

The Black Rep has given us such an opportunity by opening their 2008 season with William Shakespeare’s Othello, the tragic tale of jealousy and revenge that unfolds when a Turkish Moor marries into Venetian society. The director, Chris Anthony, has chosen to change the locations of Venice and Cyprus to New Orleans and Cuba, using the diverse Creole society in New Orleans, with fair-skinned and brown-skinned residents, as the backdrop for the suspicions, prejudice, deceptions and jealousy in the play.  

The story is centered on Iago’s greed and his hatred of his boss, the General Othello. Passed over for a promotion for a lighter-skinned soldier, Cassio, he begins his quest to destroy Othello, a dark-skinned man who has just married a light-skinned Creole princess, Desdemona. He goes to her father and accuses Othello of winning his wife by witchcraft. She convinces her father, however, that their love is true. Undeterred, Iago accompanies his regiment to Cuba, along with Desdemona and Roderigo, a rich man who has been paying Iago to help him win Desdemona’s affections. There, the seeds of jealousy and doubt begin to take root.

The play moves quickly and keeps you on your toes because Iago has got everyone ensnared in his web, believing he is on their side, even using his own wife to betray Desdemona and further his evil deeds. The plot explores themes of trust and loyalty, both among soldiers, and between lovers. (I find it interesting how the men in Shakespeare’s plays weren’t afraid to say, “I love thee” to their friends and colleagues. Do you think it was really like that in Shakespeare’s time? )

Of course, this being one of Shakespeare’s tragedies, things end badly. But with incredibly dramatic performances by Andre Sills as Othello and Monica Parks as Iago’s wife, Emilia, I was moved to tears in the final scene. Even as she lies dying, Desdemona refuses to give in to the evil around her, and will not implicate her beloved Othello in her murder.

Although written 400 years ago, it seems we as human beings still fall prey to these same themes of jealousy and doubt. The play made me think of the times in my life when I was too quick to judge someone and think badly of them. Why do we find it so much easier to focus on the negatives than to see the good in others and to trust them? Why do we think that because someone is different, they are a threat to us? Why do we allow others to taint our perceptions of those we love the most?  Perhaps with this production, The Black Rep has given us all a few resolutions to think about in the New Year.