OTHELLO
Shakespeare's Globe, London SE1
Opened 24 May, 2007
****
The press release trumpets hyperbolically that "for the first time on
any Globe at this site", the title role in Othello is played by a black man.
But only now, in the rebuilt Globe's eleventh year, is this one of
Shakespeare's most towering works being essayed. I wonder whether part
of the reason for this delay may have been apprehension about audience
response. One of the characteristics of this authentically
reconstructed outdoor space in which most of the audience stand as
"groundlings" is that Globe crowds tend to be more eager than average
to laugh; Titus Andronicus
last year worked well as a black comedy, but I have seen even the
sexual assault of Isabella in Measure
For Measure draw a hearty chuckle.
And Othello has lots of scope
to misfire on this score: all that dramatic irony when Iago is
pretending to be the bluff ensign or the concerned friend whilst
advancing his malign scheme to ruin his commander; all those occasions
when Othello, Cassio and others refer to him as "honest Iago". Added
potential is provided when Iago is played by Tim McInnerny, who despite
his long and distinguished c.v. is remembered primarily for playing
Lord Percy and then Captain Darling in the second and fourth Blackadder TV comedy series.
Thankfully, no-one in Shakespeare's text ever refers to anyone else as
"darling", so that particular snigger is absent. In fact, so is any
echo of those comedy roles. McInnerny is not only stockier than the
lanky figure in my recollection, but bearded, gruff and quite infernal
in all the most admirable ways for the role. In the pivotal scene in
which Iago cultivates Othello's paranoia, McInnerny begins by giving
his lines almost no inflection at all; he builds gradually, but still
"O beware, my lord, of jealousy!" comes as an explosion, and within a
minute or so of that point he is firmly in the driver's seat, steering
Othello's insecurities with devilish deftness.
As Othello, Eamonn Walker is solid but not monumental. After a shaky
start in which he once or twice resorts to thumping the pentameter
verse at high speed, he finds the measure of the venue, and the music
as well as the feeling in his lines. We are engaged and sympathise with
Othello's delusion, set in motion by Iago but driven by his own fears
regarding Desdemona's ability to love one such as him: an old soldier,
an old black soldier. We see
Walker's Othello as a man, but not as a great man. He may be able to stop a
brawl with a single bellow, but he lacks the extraordinary stature of
the classic tragic hero.
As Desdemona, Zoë Tapper has more backbone than the stereotypical
skimmed-milk figure in the role. She withstands first her father's then
her husband's rage, and even when almost composing herself to die at
Othello's hands suggests that this acquiescence is an act of will on
her part rather than ivory saintliness. Lorraine Burroughs is a feisty
Aemilia, who can stand up almost as an equal to her husband Iago except
in matters of evil. Indeed, both Aemilia, the wife of a
non-commissioned officer, and Bianca, a lady (shall we say) of
negotiable affection, are played by mixed-race actresses, with the
implication that social judgements about miscegenation differ according
to class and sex. Wilson Milam's production allows the groundlings
enough dramatic-irony yoks and adds a handful of broad comic gags so
that we can get it out of our system and be serious when we ought to
be. This may be the tragedy of Othello, but it is the drama of Iago.
Written for the Financial
Times.
Copyright © Ian Shuttleworth; all rights
reserved.
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