Generally speaking, my wife regards Shakespeare the same way she responds to suggestions of watching a black-and-white movie for a change \u2014 with the eye-rolling boredom of a teenager. This doesn\u2019t make her a bad person; it just means we see a lot of rom-coms.<\/p>\n
Indeed, many people, myself included, remember Shakespeare as an especially grueling part of high school, complete with forced memorization of monologues, \u201cjokes\u201d only the teachers laughed at and, for my generation at least, the screening of wacky film adaptations like Mel Gibson\u2019s \u201cHamlet\u201d or \u201cRomeo and Juliet\u201d starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes. My parents had to sign a permission slip for me to view the 1968 Franco Zeffirelli version; partial nudity in that one.<\/p>\n
Point is, like classical music and Scotch, Shakespeare tends to be a more adult taste \u2014 but those who acquire it REALLY acquire it. Perfect example: the woman sitting next to us at Perseverance Theatre\u2019s 2015-16 season opener, \u201cThe Tragedy of Othello,\u201d brought along her well-worn volume of \u201cCollected Works\u201d and we both followed along in the dark.<\/p>\n
Therefore, I encapsulate my review thusly: not only did this woman give \u201cOthello\u201d a standing ovation, my wife did, too.<\/p>\n
In case it\u2019s been a while since sophomore English\u2026<\/p>\n
First produced in 1604 and taking place during the Ottoman wars of 16th-century Venice, \u201cOthello\u201d revolves around the title character, a Moorish general in the Venetian army; Desdemona, his wife; Cassio, his lieutenant and friend; and Iago, his trusted but scheming advisor. Iago, perhaps the most infamous villain in the history of Western theater, fabricates a love triangle between the other three by preying upon human weakness \u2014 and enjoying it.<\/p>\n
The tightly constructed tragedy \u2014 no fewer than half the cast lie dead by play\u2019s end \u2014 encompasses themes of love, envy, betrayal, revenge and repentance, with race and gender politics thrown in for good measure. In it, the Bard coins such expressions as \u201cneither here nor there,\u201d \u201cI wear my heart upon my sleeve,\u201d \u201cthe \u201cgreen-eyed monster\u201d (in reference to jealousy) and the \u201cbeast with two backs\u201d (in reference to you-know-what).<\/p>\n
Among Shakespeare\u2019s better-known works, \u201cOthello\u201d also rates among the most venerated challenges for dramatic interpretation. Perseverance\u2019s production hasn\u2019t been re-set during the Iraq War, like a recent Royal Shakespeare Company production, or reconceived as a schlocky melodrama, like \u201cO,\u201d a 2001 film adaptation involving treachery on a high school basketball team. Which reminds me\u2026 for the 30-something couple sitting on our other side: you were right; it did star Mekhi Phifer, not Omar Epps.<\/p>\n
Rather, Perseverance\u2019s \u201cOthello\u201d hews to the original \u2014 much to its credit. There are no footnotes in live Shakespeare. A director must rely on actors to convey the subtlety, innuendo, humor and, often, a translation of what, precisely, all that fancy talk actually means.<\/p>\n
And under the crisp direction of Tom Robenolt, \u201cOthello\u201d\u2019s cast rises to the occasion. Each member delivers a powerful yet nuanced performance, transforming a potentially arcane, visually static museum piece into something far more dynamic and relevant.<\/p>\n
Jamil A. C. Mangan, an accomplished stage and screen actor last seen tromping the Perseverance boards as Asagai in \u201cA Raisin in the Sun,\u201d shines as Othello \u2014 literally. At my show, so intense and slow burning was his portrayal of a warrior steadily undone by jealousy, pride and anger Mangan was glistening with sweat. It was like watching a nail in a furnace melt away into nothing.<\/p>\n
And although Othello is the title character, the play belongs equally to Iago. Perseverance mainstay Brandon Demery\u2019s Iago is a bad guy you root for, even as he destroys multiple lives for sport. Calculatingly false and brilliantly chilling, Demery is at his best delivering lines such as the advice he offers a suicidal comrade: \u201cDrown thyself? Come, be a man. Drown cats and blind puppies!\u201d<\/p>\n
In a play driven by dramatic irony, Perseverance actor-in-residence James Sullivan delivers laughs as the hapless, easily manipulated Roderigo, with shades of his fussy, fidgety turn as Felix in last season\u2019s \u201cOdd Couple.\u201d And Levi Rion Ben-Israel plays Cassio not simply as a dashing young soldier, but a dashing young soldier not entirely convinced of his own dashingness.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no escaping the racial overtones inherent in \u201cOthello,\u201d the story of minority success, interracial love and the resentment both can unfortunately engender. However, as race isolates Othello in 16th-century Venice, gender isolates the women in this play, particularly Desdemona, played by Kat Wodtke. Wodtke brings an unwritten complexity to the role, playing an intelligent, confident woman simultaneously treated as a prize but discounted as a person.<\/p>\n
In fact, I believe this may have ultimately proved the barb that hooked my wife.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Othello loves her, why doesn\u2019t he believe her?\u201d I found her leaning over and asking me anxiously.<\/p>\n
You\u2019d have thought we were watching some Mark Ruffalo-Jennifer Anniston flick. You know, if it wasn\u2019t for all the swords.<\/p>\n
\u201cOthello\u201d runs through Oct. 4 at Perseverance Theatre. Visit http:\/\/www.ptalaska.org\/ for more.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Generally speaking, my wife regards Shakespeare the same way she responds to suggestions of watching a black-and-white movie for a change \u2014 with the eye-rolling boredom of a teenager. This doesn\u2019t make her a bad person; it just means we see a lot of rom-coms. Indeed, many people, myself included, remember Shakespeare as an especially […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":7,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[74],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-6637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life","tag-arts-and-culture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6637"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6637\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6637"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=6637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}