OBSERVER: Othello
Director Tanya Gerstle provides us with a judiciously pared down version of Othello with just five actors in Melbourne Shakespeare Company’s offering.
There is an unflinching intensity afforded by this approach. While the foundational explanation of the relationship between Othello (Christopher Kirby) and Desdemona (Tanya Schneider) has been excised, the unravelling of the relationship and Iago’s manipulation (Dushan Philips) remains extant.
A sense of post traumatic stress disorder has been added in an opening sequence which echoes through the production.
This tension is amplified in the prevailing soundscape (Jack Burmeister) and in a clever set design (Callum Dale) where curtained walkways, once lit, suggest personal and unreconciled inner narratives.
Once established, the dialogue is immediate and conversational, the closeness of the actors to the audience giving greater dimension to the lines.
Emilia (Lucy Ansell) and Desdemona share the uncertainty of coping with troubled men and Bianca (also Lucy Ansell) becomes a tool for Cassio (Matthew Furlani) as he seeks to win back Othello’s favour through the latter’s wife.
Furlani also plays the role of Lodovico rounding out the figure of the state behind the personal tragedy.
The proximity of the audience makes Desdemona’s death compelling. The editing brings to the fore the struggle women in particular had when faced with stereotyping and false accusations.
But Shakespeare’s emphasis is on those same lies that ruin all reputations including that of the dupe Cassio.
Philips makes this resonate as he divulges his schemes and ploys to the audience. By so doing, we become complicit.
Whether this was Shakespeare’s intention or not, the exposition of the argument and the dramatic unfurling was also a feature of the company’s production of Hamlet.
The cast deliver their lines with a familiarity that make the work accessible creating complex characters with unresolved turmoil. Shakespeare appeased Renaissance sensibility with justice being meted out at the end but Gerstle’s ending is just as final albeit uncompromising.
Performance Season: Until September 28.
Venue: fortyfivedownstairs, 44 Flinders Lane, Melbourne
Bookings: melbourneshakespeare.com/othello
Review by David McLean