The play's the thing....Shakespeare meets The Wire

[shapinglight]

Okay, quote from the wrong play, I know.

I have the day off today. This is because last night S and I went to Sheffield to see this. I knew I would need a day to recover afterwards.



I've had tickets for this for ages. Haven't dared mention it because I was scared of jinxing myself. Either something would go wrong on the journey, or we'd get there and the dreaded 'Mr so-and-so is indisposed and his part tonight will be played by...' announcement would be made. Turns out I was half right. The journey was indeed horrendous. It takes a good two hours to get from here to Sheffield on a good day. We had to do it in rain and howling wind in the middle of the Manchester rush hour (S could not get home from work any earlier than 4.15, the play started at 7.15). The traffic was terrible over the Pennines too. However, we got to Sheffield with half an hour to spare only to get totally lost trying to find the car park we'd meant to park in. Our GPS seemed unaware of the tramlines and kept wanting us to drive the wrong way down one way streets. :( In the end, just after 7, S - who is the nicest man in the universe - told me he would drop me off and go and park, so I gave him his ticket, asked a passerby for directions and ran. I got to my seat with minutes to spare.

S told me later that he arrived just as the play was starting. He and all the other late people (there were loads of them for some reason), watched the beginning on a video screen until they could be ushered into the back of the auditorium during a scene change. What a bloody performance!

As for the actual performance, I thought it was very well done - very spare set, C17th period costumes, no extraneous to the text faffing about - just some brilliant, brilliant acting. Othello is of course a very troubling play in many ways and the production didn't shrink from that. I don't know if I can even put into words how it made me feel. I swung from sympathy for Othello because of the depth of Iago's betrayal, to anger when he strikes Desdemona in public, to something approaching sympathy again by the end when he realises how low he's sunk. The young actress playing Desdemona was wonderful too. It was painful to see her youth and liveliness gradually faltering in the face of Othello's inexplicable anger, all the more so because the love between them at the beginning was so convincingly played.

But anyway, very controversial play, I know. All I can say is that I thought Clarke Peters as Othello was very, very good indeed (and boy, is he sex on two legs!), my only slight quibble being that the generic African accent he was using sometimes made the words a little indistinct. As for Dominic West as Iago, he by no means stole the show IMO, because everyone was so good, but Iago is a grandstanding part and he was brilliant in it. Totally convincing as bluff, honest Iago (the Yorkshire accent was a very good choice), one of the most unpleasant and memorable villains in literature.

I could witter on forever, but will confine myself to saying that the journey back wasn't nearly as bad (it had stopped raining and it was so late there was very little traffic). Got home about 1.30am. Knackered now, but it was worth it.

Here is the Guardian's overall review of the production and of the reviews of it. Must say, my opinion of the writer sank like a stone when he said The Wire was 'inexplicably' lauded. Idiot!

Comments

[kathyh]

Wow! When you said you'd have a terrible journey I didn't realise it would be that bad! Glad you made it and that S didn't miss too much of the play.

I heard a radio interview with Clarke Peters and Dominic West where they said they sometimes used to talk about doing Othello while filming "The Wire". It's such a difficult play but it sounds as if this production didn't duck away from that. I've only seen it once years ago but I remember being hugely confused about whether I sympathised with Othello or not.

[shapinglight]

When you said you'd have a terrible journey I didn't realise it would be that bad!

It was fairly nightmarish, but would have been ultimately okay if we could only have found that bloody car park. I was very relieved S didn't miss anything much, especially as, unlike me, he'd never seen it before.

I've seen one other production, which was years ago and featured Alan Badel (blacked up) as Othello and Anthony Quayle as Iago. My memories of it are rather indistinct (it was a very long time ago), but I think this one was better. Clarke Peters may not be as much of a traditional RSC thesp as Alan Badel, but he brought great authenticity to the part, I thought, along with a huge amount of gravitas. It made it all the more painful to see how easily he comes unravelled. However, I felt Peters managed to suggest very strongly that despite all the praise heaped on him by his superiors and subordinates, Othello knew himself, as an African and former slave, to be living on sufferance, and though he adored her, never quite believed in Desdemona's love for him. In the end, Iago doesn't really have to do much to make him doubt her.

So yes, I did feel sorry for him, though not all the time. On the other hand, the 'willow' scene between Desdemona and Emilia had me close to tears.

[kseenaa.livejournal.com]

My, my.... :-D Awesome to watch a play isn't it? Mostly because you do it so very seldom. :-) Glad to hear it was all worth it what with great actors and all. :-)

[shapinglight]

Yes, it was great. Well worth all the angsting beforehand.

[ex_peasant441]

I'm glad you had a good time. I've been there, done that, with the parking thing (Richard III in my case) and it does not make for a restful appreciation of the opening scenes. Fortunately Shakespeare nearly always writes weak opening scenes, unfortunately Richard III is one of the few exceptions.

Anyway, Pa and I are somewhat addicted to Othello and Otello. I slightly rate the opera higher because it gives more depth to Iago's character, plus of course the music, but I still adore the play.

I swung from sympathy for Othello because of the depth of Iago's betrayal, to anger when he strikes Desdemona in public, to something approaching sympathy again by the end when he realises how low he's sunk.

It would be a much lesser piece if Othello was an unequivocally likeable man. He is damaged goods, and he knows he is - and that is what Desdemona was attracted to. I reckon her 'pity' is partly the old thing of falling for the bad boy. And of course the layers are added on layers because we know what he has been through (only lightly hinted by Shakespeare) that damaged him. Did they put scars on his back? I've seen that done and it hits you like a punch in the gut when he is undressing for the final bedroom scene.

all the more so because the love between them at the beginning was so convincingly played.
Oddly enough I have never seen the love done well. I may just be the wrong person to judge that sort of thing, but I have always found it rather unbelievable. She has always come across to me as someone who is more rebelling against her father than in love with Othello. I would very much like to see it played from the love angle.

[shapinglight]

I slightly rate the opera higher because it gives more depth to Iago's character

Pish, tosh, nonsense!

I do like the opera, though, even though it always throws me that Othello is a tenor.

I don't see an element of falling for the bad boy in Desdemona's falling for Othello. Not at all. It's that other hoary old chestnut, a young girl falling for a powerful and charismatic older man. That came across very strongly in this performance, and it never for one moment occurred to me to think that rebelling against her father came into it. She might be determined to get the man she wants despite her father, but it was because she wanted Othello, not because she had daddy issues (or not those sort of daddy issues).

No scars, but I think the performance said enough that they weren't needed. Internal scars, plain to see.

ETA: not to say there isn't some H/C stuff in Othello/Desdemona.

[ex_peasant441]

Musically it is very difficult to have the hero be anything other than a tenor (or possibly a castrato) because of where the notes fit in the chord. But I agree, one feels that dramatically he should be a nice deep dark bass.

Yes, definitely H/C. I've also seen it played with a hint of paternal abuse of Desdemona, so Othello is the rescuing prince. That works well. As always with Shakespeare it can be played with many, many different variations. A lot of it depends on how charismatic the actor playing Othello actually is. I always reckon actors find it very hard to fake charisma - they either have it or they don't. With an uncharismatic actor you have to provide some alternative reason for what Desdemona fell for - normally the pity angle, or trying to escape Daddy either as a rebellion or to get away from his control. With a charismatic actor you can go for a more straightforward attraction.

[shapinglight]

With a charismatic actor you can go for a more straightforward attraction.

Well, Clarke Peters has charisma to spare, so they just played it straight I suppose. I was completely convinced that Desdemona would have fallen for him on the strength of that charisma and sheer hero worship (with a side-helping of pity for his terrible past that would have predisposed her to find him interesting). The actor playing the father did him as rather a doddery old man who would have had a hard time oppressing anyone. It was really quite upsetting when he spurned Desdemona's attempt to embrace him and pushed her away. I think when I last saw the play all those years ago, the scene was played as him grudgingly accepting the marriage.

[quinara]

Ooh, it sounds excellent. As time goes on I'm really beginning to feel the fact that I don't really know what happens in Othello, but it's nice to hear that everything was convincing - and that Dominic West had a good accent (no Hour-like problems!).

[shapinglight]

When you say you don't know what happens, do you mean you don't know the story of the play, or that you do know it but feel you don't understand what's going on in it?

If the latter, I sympathise. I'm well aware that it's a play that carries an awful lot of baggage for a modern audience that was possibly never intended by the author. That said, Shakespeare has to have been aware of these things or they wouldn't be there at all. There's a wonderful conversation between Desdemona and Emilia just before Desdemona is murdered that sounds so contemporary (or did to me) that it made my hair stand on end last night.

Dominic West was great. I think he was channelling Sean Bean a little, but it helps that his family actually do come from South Yorkshire. His dad probably speaks like that anyway.

[quinara]

I basically mean the story. I don't really know anything about the status of the various characters, and in terms of plot I only know that Iago convinces Othello Desdemona's cheating on him (?), because he fancies her and she told him to get stuffed (?), and then he kills her and there's something sad about a handkerchief(?). I don't even know who any of the other characters are! It's an embarrassing whole in my Shakespeare knowledge. What was the conversation about? (I am now intrigued!)

And aha, on DW's accent! Maybe this is why his posh-ish accent sounds slightly inflected to my ears...

[shapinglight]

I basically mean the story

Hmm, yeah. I get that now. Iago's motives are very hard to fathom. I ended up this time convinced that he's just a psychopath and is doing it all just because he can. He states again and again that he 'loathes the Moor', his stated reason being that he thinks Othello had sex with his wife, which his wife states is bollocks. But somehow it seems to go beyond that. He's like a malevolent force of nature. However, the crux of the plot is that, yes, Iago convinces Othello Desdemona has been unfaithful to him with Cassio, his lieutenant, and goads Othello (rather easily, it has to be said, but see above my comments re Othello's status etc) him into ordering the lieutenant's murder and killing Desdemona. Then there's a big denoeument. But there's lots of other stuff going on to do with women and race and all sorts of things that as I said look very different (or do they?) to us nowadays. Worth reading, and worth seeing a good production too.

Also, if you want a very different take on interracial marriage in the era, I highly recommend Astraea by Jane Stevenson, about a secret marriage between Queen Elizabeth of Bohemia and her black doctor. Wonderful book.

[quinara]

Thanks for the explanation! And I will definitely take a look at that book when I next get the urge to read something not fanfiction (so little time, so little energy to seek out Real Books...). :)

[ex_peasant441]

Iago's motives are very hard to fathom.

See, see - I told you the opera gives more depth to his character. Verdi (or I suppose Boito) gives him the whole credo song, which doesn't exist in Shakespeare, and also does complex stuff with the theme of jealousy. Opera does emotions better than a play, and this stuff is all about emotional responses. After all if everyone was being rational the whole problem could have been solved by paying proper attention to the laundry list.

[shapinglight]

Well, see, I think the fact that we can't really fathom Iago's motives is what gives the character so much power. So there.

[ex_peasant441]

The relatively blank slate that WS provides does leave room for a skilled actor. They often really ramp up the homoerotic subtext these days. Have you seen the version with Ian McKellen, Imogen Stubbs and Willard White? McKellen goes for homoerotic big time - pretty much text with him, not subtext. Trouble is, that has now been done so many times it is starting to feel old hat. The last Otello I saw had Iago played as just straight evil - and that worked well in its simplicity. I guess you could call that unfathomable - that or have to write a dissertation on the nature of evil.

Did you know Verdi almost called the opera 'Iago'.

[shapinglight]

I suppose Dominic West played him as just straight evil, though with a big dose of humour. Some of the lines were laugh out loud funny (though I didn't laugh), because of the way they were delivered. Certainly no homoerotic overtones. Also, I've only seen Othello the play twice, both times live. I've really no interest in watching Shakespeare on TV, unless it's specially made for TV. Some of the old BBC ones were okay. I remember Eric Porter's Macbeth with fondness.

[bogwitch.livejournal.com]

Tbh that's about as much as I know and I studied the thing!

[quinara]

But I got the bit in the middle wrong, apparently! And who knew Iago had a wife?

[bogwitch.livejournal.com]

Not me obviously. It was (eep!) 20 years ago.

[quinara]

Eep!

(And, argh, I didn't get any of the comments after the one you just posted before this. Please don't let LJ be on the blink again...)

[shapinglight]

I'm not getting my comments either. Stupid LJ!

[shapinglight]

She's a very important character, in fact, and makes a speech at one point re men and women that still seems pretty pertinent today.

[thespikeofit.livejournal.com]

Just to chip in on DW's accent. He may be from Sheffield but he was educated at Eton - I have no doubt his posh accent is genuine.

[quinara]

Oh, I've no doubt that it's genuine either, but it makes sense to me that it might be a bit like the version of the southern accent I speak most of the time: not free-enough of my parents' voices to be 100% unselfconscious. But who knows?

[kazzy-cee.livejournal.com]

Glad you enjoyed it. I worked with Clarke Peters on a radio musical years ago when I worked for the BBC. He's very nice in RL and has a terrific singing voice.

[shapinglight]

:Fangirls you madly:

Tell me more! His resume in the program includes an awful lot of musical work. Also, it says that it's recently been announced he's to be awarded the Outstanding Contribution in Film & TV Award at this year's Screen Nation Film and Television Awards (whatever those are).

[hello-spikey.livejournal.com]

Yay for live theatre! I'm glad you got to see such a wonderful production!

[shapinglight]

It was wonderful. Plus I was fangirling like woah. At the end, Clarke Peters and Dominic West were smiling away at each other and when they went off stage I saw Clarke Peters put his arm around Dominic West's shoulders, and I went to slashy heaven.

Wonder if anyone's ever written McNulty/Freamon slash?

[bogwitch.livejournal.com]

You did keep this quiet considering how timely it is!

I do remember enjoying the play, I think we watched a video of Trevor Nunn's version, but much like Romeo and Juliet, it left me with very little sympathy for the characters. Maybe if I saw it again, I wouldn't think Othello was such a twat.

[shapinglight]

You did keep this quiet considering how timely it is!

I had to. I was too scared to even mention it. :(

There are some good films of Shakespeare plays, but I think you can't beat seeing them live. Othello is an idiot, no doubt, but a good actor can at least make you understand why he's an idiot.

[thespikeofit.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear you enjoyed the production. I saw it last month and really enjoyed it. The real bonus for me wasn't the strength of West and Peters but that the rest of the cast was of a high calibre even if lacking in famous names. They almost pulled off Desdemona's death scene which always is a problem for me due to the sheer ridiculousness of how someone dies when strangled.

[shapinglight]

Yes, it was a great ensemble. I was very impressed by everyone. And I agree, the death scene did work. In fact, I found it horribly brutal.

[yourlibrarian]

Glad you got to see it after all that, and that you enjoyed it. I'd have jumped at tickets as well.

I plan to make several posts on The Wire now that I've finished the series.

[shapinglight]

That's good to know. I've been wondering what you thought of it all. It was terrific, btw, and Dominic West and Clarke Peters are obviously such great friends. See my comment to hello_spikey above about the slashy moment at the end.

[lokifan]

I LOVE OTHELLO SO MUCH. MY FAVOURITE SHAKESPEARE, HATERS TO THE LEFT.

I love the idea of playing Iago with a Yorkshire accent! I'm not hugely into Dominic West but I like that the production actually had a young man play Iago - I think one of the unnerving things about Iago is that for all his cunning and cynicism Shakespeare explicitly mentions his youth.

[shapinglight]

I'm not hugely into Dominic West but I like that the production actually had a young man play Iago - I think one of the unnerving things about Iago is that for all his cunning and cynicism Shakespeare explicitly mentions his youth.

I think Dominic West is in his mid/late 30s. Not sure. He was very good, though, and considerably younger than Clarke Peters as Othello. I thought it all worked really well. It was great.

[lokifan]

I reckon that still counts - Iago's late 20s, I think? And he's been played as much older (ie by McKellen) and it works, but I think having him considerably younger than Othello whatever the exact ages adds something interesting to the dynamic, with Othello denying him promotion and Iago stealing authority another way.

[shapinglight]

Interestingly, Dominic West's use of a Yorkshire accent gave that aspect of the plot more of a class element. Cassio was definitely more upper crust.