On Stage: Othello

It’s a good idea to have some idea of Othello before seeing Melbourne Shakespeare Company’s new show playing at fortyfive downstairs.

The 90-minute production is a scaled back version of one of Shakespeare’s best-known plays. As a result, it takes a little time to work out exactly what is happening.

Director Tanya Gerstle’s offering highlights several of the themes featured in Othello – trust, deception and betrayal. It also looks to address the consequences of post-traumatic stress.

As she explains: “In our Othello – stripped bare, war is the land of the damaged. The men return, scared, shattered and untethered. Imprinted images explode in their brains.  These men are weaponised, male mentorship is corrupted and the women in their lives are collateral damage.”

The play starts with the killing of a woman by General Othello’s ensign Iago during a war they are fighting. The woman is holding a white flag to surrender but this doesn’t prevent her death.  Othello witnesses her murder.

Othello and Iago then return home.  Waiting for them is Othello’s wife Desdemona, whom he is clearly pleased to see, and Iago’s wife, Emelia, who is also Desdemona’s lady in waiting.

While at first Othello seems unaffected by the war this façade is shattered the more stressed he becomes.

Iago is responsible for that stress.  Bitter that fellow soldier Cassio was promoted to the role of Lieutenant over him, he plots to ensure everyone who he feels has done him wrong pay with their lives – a plan which ultimately succeeds.

He convinces Othello that Desdemona is having an affair with Cassio which isn’t the case. Yet Othello believes Iago’s lies over his wife which says a great deal about his attitude towards Desdemona and his own state of mind.

The attitudes and behaviours of all the characters are evident thanks to the hard work of the show’s cast of five actors.

Christopher Kirby as Othello is totally believable as a powerful soldier gripped by self-doubt. His transformation from his first scene with Desdemona to his mental and physical disintegration is there for all to see.

Tanya Schneider’s Desdemona is equally believable as a woman who loves her husband but is confused and heartbroken by his behaviour towards her.

The same could be said of Dushan Philips as the scheming and cruel Iago and Lucy Ansell who plays both Emelia and Cassio’s lover Bianca.

Matthew Furlani’s Cassio comes across as a far gentler character than that of Othello and Iago.

A basic set comprising concrete steps adds to the brutal feel of the play while action behind see-through curtains  illustrates events  occurring off stage.

While at times difficult to watch due to the plot, the production also provides food for thought for as Gerstle states: “Although written in 1604, Othello holds up a mirror to our times. Men are still killing their intimate partners at alarming rates and despite the advances in civilisation and the rapidity of technological change, war is still entrenched as a preferred form of dispute resolution.”

Othello is playing at fortyfive downstairs, 45 Flinders Lane Melbourne until September 28.  Visit the Melbourne Shakespeare Company for more information and tickets.

*Photo credit: Nick Robertson (@nickmickpics).

Jenny Burns was a guest of the production company.