Othello

I bought this for my high school classroom because I wasn't sure about other versions/adaptations. It is tremendously well-acted and students loved seeing what they had read. Scenes are individually accessible via the Table of Contents, which helped with student comprehension if one of the scenes were particularly difficult to envision. Unfortunately, there aren't subtitles but that's the only downside.

I saw the production at the Globe. As an actor, director and theatre teacher, I have been involved with several productions of Othello. I have read the play countless times and attended more than 20 other productions. Sitting in the audience at the Globe, it was as though I had never experienced this play. Each scene brought a new revelation. It was vibrant, fresh -- and real! Yes, there was humor -- quite a lot of it -- all text-based. I found that the humor made the pathos of the end all the more disturbing. I actually discovered myself thinking, "He's not going to kill her. He loves her too much to kill her." I have played Desdemona, and yet I had hope! Once I had sufficiently recovered from the impact of this scene, I glanced around me, somewhat embarrassed by my wet face and clenched hands. Believe me, I found few dry eyes, and none which were unaffected. I have used this DVD in my high school class and have been amazed at my students' reaction to it. It is the only Shakespeare I have ever shown which has been met with rapt attention and silence almost all the way through. Many wanted to know where to get their own copy. WOW! An amazing production based upon the First Folio text.

The main attraction here is the recreated Globe Theater itself. And this production makes good use of this marvelous stage. Nice camera work -- sometimes, briefly, the camera moves to the back of the stage -- and we see the actors from above and behind, and we see audience reactions. Eamonn Walker is a fine, powerful Othello, if a bit too young. Tim McInnery's Iago is perhaps the weakest part of the production. With all his boisterousness and shouting, he doesn't really convey the subtle evil the role requires. The Desdemona is fine -- and the Emelia's feisty performance surprised me -- but it works very well.

If you've never seen a production at the Globe, this DVD is worth the price just for the chance to see this unique playing space in action. The audience interaction is wonderful, and the gathering darkness reinforces the tone and mood of the final scenes in ways that I hadn't anticipated. It's easy for modern-day readers to forget that Shakespeare wrote his plays with outdoor performance in mind, and that early modern audiences were only inches from the actors, and this production makes inventive use of these staging conditions. The play is performed with very few cuts -- it's a rare chance to see often-cut material like the Clown scenes, and this makes it an excellent version to use in the classroom. Unfortunately, Tim McInnerney's Iago is not wholly convincing, especially in his soliloquys and his big scene with Othello (3.3). While his scenes with Roderigo are entertaining, he comes across as too angry throughout this production, and it's hard to see why Othello and the other characters trust him. I found it difficult to imagine an Iago with so little control over his own emotions as a plausible manipulator. Zoe Tapper's Desdemona, on the other hand, is pitch-perfect. She's too often played as a shrinking violet, but Desdemona is the descendant of Shakespeare's earlier comic heroines like Rosalind and Beatrice. Tapper's Desdemona is genuinely innocent, and bewildered at the change in Othello's behavior, but at the same time, she's a bold young woman who defies her father to marry for love, banters with Iago, and pleads Cassio's case at the risk of further antagonizing her husband. Her final scene with Emilia and her murder work particularly well, but so do her earlier scenes; her affection for Walker's Othello is real and tangible, and this production feels like a comedy that has missed its way. I enjoyed this video very much, and I look forward to sharing it with my students. I hope there will be more Globe performances released on video in the future.

Theater in Shakespeare's time was popular entertainment for the masses and not highbrow art. The Globe Theatre in London continues that tradition with this production of Othello. In contrast to productions of Othello in which the actors are self-consciously striving to be "deep", the actors here are playing for the crowd. By no means does this make the quality of the performance suffer. Eamonn Walker brings a brooding physical presence to the stage as Othello. Zoe Tapper is amazing as Desdemona - beautiful and with a clear voice that makes her lines easy to follow. It is Tim McInnerny as Iago who rules the stage, though - the audience is alternately laughing at him as he manipulates the hapless Rodrigo, and then is horrified as he manipulates Othello. Add to this the reconstructed Globe Theatre in London, and you have a winning combination. You need not be a Shakespeare scholar to enjoy this production - just a human being.

Let me start out by saying, this review is not about the actual product DVD, as it is visually fine and the sound is good. This review is about the actual performance and interpretation of the play itself. I grant, I am not a theater critic, nor am I a Shakespeare expert. I have, however, performed in and seen many Shakespeare plays, including a few variations of Othello, so I speak with a bit of experience. Here goes: Eamonn Walker as Othello is mesmerizing. He is powerful, authoritative, and clearly the character closest to classical interpretation. The scene where he kills Desdemona is emotional and superbly performed by both actors, and while the actual killing is a new interpretation, it is a bold choice and, I believe, superbly done. Zoe Tapper's Desdemona is very good, although her voice is such a pitch that it distracts at times. She brings an innocence and dignity to the role that is often tough to find. I enjoyed her performance. The same can be said for many of the secondary characters, including Cassio, Brabantio, Montano, Emilia, and Bianca. While choosing black actors for Emilia and Bianca is a bit strange at first (given the racial overtones of the show), both actresses turn in solid and beautiful performances. Now comes the reason I give only three stars: Iago. Tim McInnerny makes Shakespeare's greatest and most complex villain forgettable and without depth. He speeds through his lines with a raspy half-yell that rarely changes tone. Whether he is giving an aside to the audience or screaming to the balcony at Brabantio, the same level and energy comes forth. I was completely and thoroughly disappointed. At no point did I feel anything for Iago, much less the sheer menace and brilliance with which he is written. Iago -- the character -- is a brilliant, controlled puppeteer. McInnerny portrayed him as a loud, obnoxious braggart who I found not believable as a master manipulator. He zips through his monologues with speed and little emotion (except for anger), leaving me to wonder not only what he said, but whether even he has any idea as to what he is truly saying. He had no control over himself, much less did I believe he could control anyone else. I could not have been more disappointed. If you want a truly menacing and deep Iago, see Kenneth Branagh or Ian McKellen. McInnerny's Iago will make you hate the character for all the wrong reasons. On a final note, Rodrigo (played by Sam Crane) was patently shallow and unbelievable. I have seen Crane in other productions, and he is a fine actor, but I believe the direction in this production forced him to play Rodrigo in a way that made him near unwatchable. If it seems like I beat up on McInnerny a lot, it's only because the entire premise of the play hinges on the audience's ability to believe Iago can cause so much havoc merely through slight manipulation. His portrayal left me (and the entire acting crew I watched it with) wondering how anyone can be duped by such a ridiculous caricature. My guess is the blame lies partly on the director, Wilson Milam, who tells us in the bonus feature that he tried to turn the TRAGEDY of Othello into a comedy. He fails... miserably. Even with such great acting as Walker, Tapper, et al., the woes outweigh the wins. If you want a different take on Othello, then this is a good buy. If you are seeing Othello for the first time and want to truly understand the show as it was intended by The Bard, I would advise another version of the show.

I had the chance to see this performance live, and it is just as compelling on video. Iago is charming and repugnant. Othello is tender, jealous, and brutal. There is a bewildering mix of humor and tragedy that is simply impossible to capture in a movie. If you can find a copy, buy it.

Eamonn Walker is a magnificent Othello. Powerfully built with the strong, masculine presence that the character of Othello requires, Walker also has a beautifully emotive face, and eyes that give away so much of the character's heart. Really, the best Othello I've seen. Other reviewers have problems with things that did not bother me at all - When Iago is not the center of the action, McInnerny will sometimes give a dull, slack-jawed look. My interpretation of this is that any time Iago speaks, any time a character looks at him, he is performing. But this face - the dull, empty, calculating face - is his true one. It's an interesting choice, I think. Some reviewers complained that the director had turned the play into a comedy, but Shakespeare's work always contains comedic elements, comedy or no. It's just the way he wrote, and is a technique still used by filmmakers and playwrights today - you build tension, then you break tension (which is where the comedy comes in), so that you can build it again. The lines are Shakespeare's, this is just a different interpretation than we've previously seen, and a successful one, I think. Some things I did have a problem with - the actress who plays Desdemona makes one terrible misstep early in the production (a long slow look around the room). These moments of really bad acting (or directing, although none of us can tell whose fault it is) serve to remind the audience - this is not Desdemona, this is a woman who is being paid to pretend she's Desdemona for a couple hours, and then she'll go home and put on her yoga pants and have some tea. Not a great way to suck your audience into a story. She otherwise gave a lovely and delightful performance, but it took a little while to recover from that initial bobble. And the biggest problem - and I feel like such a jerk for saying this - the two black actresses. It's not about them, it's about the story. All choices the director makes should be to serve the story. These two ladies were both really good actors, and I would love to see them in something else, but these roles need to be filled by white actors, not black. If there are other mixed-race marriages in this play, then why is it such a big deal when Othello and Desdemona marry? If there are other black characters in this city, then why is Othello himself considered such an exotic character? To complain about these lovely and talented women is not to make a racist statement. It's to complain that the story was not served. All this leads to my request for more special features. In the brief "documentary," the director talks about what he wanted in doing the production, and he talks about how some of the stars were cast, and... that's it. I wanted to know more about Eamonn Walker, to fulfill my slight movie star crush, but mostly I wanted to know why he chose the two black lady actors - what his intention was in making that decision. Alas. Alackaday.