Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Old Art with New Tech

Last night I saw Shakespeare's Othello performed (for free) on Boston Common. This is an annual event performed by the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company It was a great show and is playing through Sunday and I highly recommend it.

To prep for it I streamed from Netflix (via my TiVo) the 1965 film version with Lawrence Olivier and Maggie Smith. To date it, Olivier performed in blackface. Normally it takes me about 15 minutes to get used to the language but I found I had a hard time throughout most of it. I was also surprised I only knew two quotes from the play, "wear my heart on my sleeve" and "making the beast with two backs". This version is close to filmed play with few edits and sparse sets. The acting is strong, the film got four acting nominations though no wins. Lawrence Olivier lost to Lee Marvin.

When the performance started last night I immediately recognized Othello as Carver from The Wire and checked the program to find his name was Seth Gilliam and verified my recognition on IMDb. Reading the program, I also saw that Iago was James Waterston who was Mr. Pitts in Dead Poets Society ("A very unfortunate name.").

The play had an interesting set. Basically a bare stage with a large stone wall in the back. There were two large panels that rotated to act like doors. Occasionally props such as boxes, tables, chairs and a bed were brought out. Around the back wall was scaffolding that provided a balcony on one side and a spiral staircase on the other. The characters were dressed in 1940s costumes, mostly military which I found odd at first but mostly worked. The play talks about swords and includes some sword fights, and while all the soldiers had pistols, the fights used knives.

I found the language much easier to follow in the play. During a conversation at intermission someone wondered about how faithful it was. When it started up again, I turned on my iPhone and started Stanza and downloaded the play from Project Gutenberg and read along. I found that every couple of screens worth they removed about two sentences (maybe about 10%). This allowed them more time to speak a little slower and I think it helped a lot (it's still about 2h45m, the same as the movie).

Today I learned that I saw Othello on an interesting anniversary. "1942 When Paul Robeson opens as the title role in Othello tonight at the Brattle Hall Summer Theatre in Massachusetts, he becomes the first African-American actor to play the Moor in the United States. His performance receives rave reviews."

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