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‘Othello’ @ Georgia Shakespeare
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
THEATER REVIEW. Grade: B
It takes cheek to cut “Othello” down to size. But that is exactly what Brandon J. Dirden has done. The ambitious Atlanta actor not only turns the flabby 400-year-old tragedy into a lean, six-actor machine, he also stars, quite handsomely, as the Moor who marries into Venetian society, then loses everything in a fit of jealousy instigated by his “honest” friend.
But you know the story already, which is why Dirden’s economic approach makes the original version feel so extraneous.
Directed by Vincent Murphy, “Othello” closes Georgia Shakespeare’s season with a production that is as sexy-looking as one of those sleek designer hotel lobbies —- all flowing white curtains and padded furniture that begs one to get horizontal.
You kind of wonder if designer Kat Conley has been slung up at the downtown hotel bar BED, because beds are exactly what she makes for this triangle of red-hot lovers, who writhe on their commodious white mattresses on a floor as shiny and crimson as nail polish. Along with Dirden as Othello, there’s Park Krausen as Desdemona, John G. Preston as Iago, Joe Knezevich as Cassio —- and Kate Donadio and Chris Kayser as everything else. Everyone looks good in Sydney Roberts’ fetching costumes —- tights and tunics for the guys; pants and floor-sweeping jacket-things for the ladies.
Is it such a crime that we are all tragedy’d out and headed home in a cool two hours and 30 minutes? Dirden makes it happen by eliminating Roderigo and condensing the convoluted tale to its bare essence (pun intended). Iago is assigned most of the nasty business himself, and Preston plays the villain with such natural elegance that you believe every vile deed. Donadio, for her part, gets to play the Duke, as well as Emelia and Bianca, and she turns the latter part into a clueless bimbo with a baby-doll voice. Fun.
Krausen’s Desdemona seems modern somehow, not nearly so willing to kowtow to the Moor as we may recall from early readings. This is good. The biggest misstep of the otherwise ravishing production is the way Desdemona and Othello get so ridiculously high-strung in their final moments. I mean, you expect anyone who is about to be strangled to go a little dingy, but Krausen plays it in the style of a ’30s Hollywood movie star —- rolling around on the bed and kind of begging for it. The scene has “erotic potential” written all over it, but in the end, it’s not that hot.
Though the Klimchak score is a little too “Exorcist”-like —- paranoid whisperings and bat-crazy blips —- Murphy’s idea of putting all the action upfront on those three big beds is to die for.
As dramaturg Sister Smith says so astutely in her notes, “Once a person is trapped in a downspiral of jealousy, voyeurism makes him an outsider, an audience, to his own marriage and desires.” And Dirden’s radical adaptation makes good sense and ought to be explored further, produced elsewhere.
Once again, Georgia Shakespeare puts on show that will attract a youthful audience who likes risky, adventurous drama, who believes theater needs to be as hypnotic, visually stimulating and urgent as cinema, who digs a really intense fight scene, who likes snazzy clothes.
I mean, when’s the last time you wanted to crawl in bed with a Shakespeare play?
THE 411: 8 p.m. Thursdays-Sundays. 2 p.m. Sundays. Through Nov. 5. $15-$40. Georgia Shakespeare, Conant Performing Arts Center, Oglethorpe University, 4484 Peachtree Road N.E., Atlanta. 404-264-0020; www.gashakespeare.org
THE VERDICT: Bringing sexy back —- to the bard.
Comments
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By Lily Toad
October 30, 2006 3:44 PM | Link to this
One of the best portrayals of Iago I’ve ever seen. Most Iagos are sniveling dark types, but this one has an open likeable face. He tells what he is planning but without all the pure evil typically shown for this character.