there's a Bollywood interpretation of Othello that is absolutely outstanding called Omkara. the director has taken Othello and cast him as a dacoit-turned-politician... if you ever get the chance to, you should watch it. it's completely faithful to Shakespeare's version of the play and it's one of the better Bollywood movies out there.
I flipped my shiz when I saw you did Othello - my absolute FAVORITE Shakespeare play (and I love Shakespeare, so that's saying something). I recently saw a production of this in which they stopped the play right before the "seizure" scene so that the actor playing Othello could tell the story of "the night of seven Othellos" when, in theater school, he was about to play the part for the first time and six fellow actors spent an evening discussing it with him. One of them (who was actually dying of AIDS at the time) told him that the director would want him to have a seizure on stage and that he should push back. He asked why? And the guy replied "Because Iago is the only one who says that Othello has a seizure, and Iago lies." That really stuck with me, so I wanted to share :)
+Liene's Library that's so interesting! I don't know that I enjoy the idea of an actor stopping midway through the play, but it's a really interesting thought that Othello may not have actually had a seizure! So many ways to unpick this play depending on how much you believe what Iago says.
haha, about stopping the play, I would normally agree with you but the whole production was very unusual in that respect. there was no set, and no costumes, just a warehouse-looking background and some chairs. The play opened with one of the actors, who was black but was playing Cassio, not Othello, doing a brief stand-up routine about what it's like to be black in America. Then, throughout the play, they would ring a bell, pause the action, and address or relate the scene to current events. They made a point of having Desdemona appear with a black eye after Othello slaps her (which scene I find is usually glossed over) and they did a Q&A with the audience about both the format of their production as well as how people related to the themes it was trying to address. Having seen and read the play before, I found it to be a refreshing and original way to do it, though I'm not sure I would have liked that to by my first time seeing it.
Great video - I would love to see more of these Shakespeare videos they are highly enjoyable - Verdi did three Great Operas based on Shakespeare's plays - Macbeth, Falstaff and Otello - all of which I can highly recommend.
Im so happy you decided to do Othello so early on - it's my absolute favourite Shakespeare play and I'm desperate to see it on stage! Thanks so much for this, I really enjoyed it! :)
This is a wonderful description of a magnificent play. While I do think there are one or two plays by Shakespeare that are "objectively" greater to my mind "Othello" is the one to which I most often return. Along with "Macbeth" it contains Shakespeare's greatest poetry. I never got the impression that Iago's desire that Bianca filch the handkerchief arose *before* he was passed over for promotion. I *do* think Iago's motive for revenge is the one he states at the very beginning of the play. The question that arises for me rather is why being passed over by Othello so destroyed and enraged him. I don't think Othello and Iago can be fully understood without seeing their psychologies as complimentary. Othello projects his identity into someone else (his wife); that faith is destroyed, and his sense of identity falls with it (Othello referring to his wife as his "fair warrior" is projection if I've ever seen it). Iago 's identity lies in his faith in Othello but when Othello "rejects" him he loses his sense of who he is to the point that Cassio's beauty becomes a threat and he irrationally suspects other prominent men to be sleeping with his wife. Ultimately, I think Shakespeare was developing a psychological model of "jealousy" with both characters.
You should check out Keith Hamilton Cobb's "American Moor," a one-man play about a Black actor auditioning for the role of Othello. Really fascinating and brings new light to the racial implications of the play.
I'm loving this series :) Could you do one for The Twelfth Night? Also, if you're ever in Vancouver, BC you should check out the Bard on the Beach productions...they're great.
I agree that it doesn't make sense for a white actor to play Othello, but I do understand why they still want to - he's the lead! Beyond that, as you've pointed out, there are other characters who, quite frankly, are just as interesting. It also seems that race is a minor point in Othello, the primary being different faces of deception and jealousy, so perhaps it wasn't seen so much as a racial issue in previous incarnations. Still, it would be great to see a current version with a black or Middle Eastern Othello, as we have so many very competent actors who could do an excellent job in the role.
Most modern productions do cast non-white actors, Michael Gambon was the last (at least officially!) white actor to 'black-up' for Othello. Yeah, no I understand why and actor would want to play Othello. Heck, I might want to play Othello. But there are some parts that, unless the play is purposefully changed (Maxine Peake in Hamlet for example), you're just never going to get to play, and what I was getting at is that that's ok, not every part is for everyone :)
I saw a performance a couple of years ago where Iago was played by a black man, which portrayed his jealousy as not to do with racial prejudice. Also would love to see a video about The Taming of the Shrew, I'm doing it at college and struggling to work out how I feel about it. There's a lot to talk about
Reads and Daydreams damn, I'm dumb. MARTIN Sheen. I always get their names mixed up. anyway, he's great, they're both great, but yeah "O" definitely worth watching. it's scary how a lot of the racial tensions translate to the 21st century adaptation.
In my country the people are not racially diverse enough (yet) to have plenty of dark skinned actors who could play Othello, so it's always interesting to see how different directors approach the subject of race in the play. I particularly liked a production where they just "didn't bother" doing anything about it visually. Othello was played by a white actor (who happens to be on a wheelchair, so arguably, a certain "otherness" was present) and it did not matter at all. It was like going back to the essence of what a "play" is. Like the audience was in on it, we knew Othello *was* black and we played along. Am I making any sense? I hope so.
Lauren are you a literature teacher... your videos are wonderful? I am introducing my sister to Shakespeare who never read it in school and so these are awesome
Othello is in my top 3 (with Hamlet & MacBeth). My favourite stage production was at the National Theatre with Adrian Lester & Rory Kinnear www.imdb.com/title/tt3224254/. (It was little bit strange though seeing Desdemona in jeans and T-shirt but addressing her husband "My Lord" lol ). It is great video, but I disagree about the motives. I think Iago feels betrayed by him that he didn't promote him. Sort of like "Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned" from The Mourning Bride.
I saw Stage Beauty a long while ago, but I'd just finished studying Othello at the time and I remember really enjoying the scene when they do it on stage and he does actually nearly murder her - was a really interesting take on how the actors/characters are really feeling and I liked how it blurred the play with reality. Other than that I'm afraid my memory of the film is pretty fuzzy!
Hi, lovely video! I am a bit confused by you saying Iago had no motive - do you find the jealousy (regarding both the job and Emilia) not enough of a motive? I always found his actions clearly stemming from that, espicially when on a surface level the play seems to be about Othello's jealousy. The fact that Iago's awful to Emilia at the same time just provides more material for the actor's interpretation and characterization. Also, in claiming only black actors should play Othello, you're demanding the same level of realism those diretors who went for the black makeup did.
+Plays and Parasols no it's not that I don't find those enough of a motive, I find it hard to believe that they actually ARE his motives because Iago lies. We don't see enough of his character in his soliloquies to know whether those really are his true motives or whether they're just excuses he gives to Rodrigo. Not sure I understand your point about race and realism? I'm not necessarily claiming only black actors can play the part - anyone can play the part IF you don't make the play about race, or you're making some other racial point (e.g. the Patrick Stewart production) What I disapprove of is any actor using makeup to portray a difference race to their own. If you really want a middle eastern character, hire a middle eastern actor etc. It's the 'black face' element of it that I think's ridiculous.
Well I am not that well informed on numbers of British drama school graduates of colour around the middle of 20th century, but I suspect there were very little. So, if you only have white experienced actors available and you're making a realistic, not very directorial production (probably someone like Brook might have done it differently if he did Othello), the natural thing is to use makeup. Just as now with lots of actors of different races and after lots of Guardian articles about diversity and representation, the natural thing is to cast an actor from the correct region. It certainly is great in terms of representation, but I don't think it necessarily says anything about the quality of the productions, more about the social context of the time. As someone from a country with virtually no racial diversity, I don't find the makeup thing offensive in any way, because that's how it's often done here to this day. So I am not surprised at all that a few decades ago when there were sadly not that many actors of colour at the forefront of public attention, outstanding white actors would be cast in the UK as well. If you've got Paul Scofield hanging around, you're gonna want to cast him :-) After all theatre is about transformation and British acting especially is based heavily on using a mask (at least the Olivier branch of the Olivier vs. Gielgud spectrum). It is quite nice to see I guess that there's been such a huge shift in the few decades that you find it so unthinkable. I'm not saying by any means that you're not right, I just think it's important to...keep a certain appreciation for this potential of transformation? Hope it makes sense :-)
My first experience of Othello was a performance by the RSC where there were a fair few non-white cast members, including Iago, so now I often forget that he wasn't written non-white. It made for an interesting twist on certain interactions and conversations. It makes me SO uncomfortable that white actors have played Othello, there is really no excuse.
+Lillian Nieswender he does say that to Rodrigo at the beginning of the play, but again it's such a throwaway line and never mentioned again, either in Iago's soliloquies or in his interactions with Emilia. Knowing what we do about Othello's character I think it's unlikely that this happened or that Iago really believes it, but that he is perhaps trying to further Rodrigo's jealousy and anger.
While, of course, I agree that the role of Othello shouldn’t be deprived from black actors; I don’t believe that the use of people like Gambon or Stewart or even Olivier is meant from the bigoted perspective of the 19th century actors blacking up. It’s clearly simply a really coveted character by all, no matter the race. To them, it’s like complaining when a black actor plays Hamlet. They just want to experience a character with such depth. But you’re right the clear messages of race make most of that invalid. What can you say? Hindsight is 20/20
It’s not that I think that Olivier or Gambon actively thought they were being racist, or that anybody at that time intended the blacking-up as any kind of caricature; I simply think they didn’t even consider it. Olivier just wanted to play Othello. I imagine he just saw the makeup as part of his costume. But, the point I’m trying to make is, why does any white actor *have* to play Othello? You say it’s like denying a black actor the part of Hamlet, but historically that kind of thing DOES happen. Black actors were (and still are) passed over to play the big historical parts because it’s not ‘accurate’. This is one of those big meaty parts that specifically calls for a person of colour - is the world really going to be that much poorer if we don’t get Patrick Stewart’s interpretation? As I say, it’s not bigoted as such, it’s just selfish and greedy. Lady Macbeth is also a hugely coveted role, why not play her as well? You’re right in that we shouldn’t judge the past by today’s morals, but nowadays and going forward I don’t see why there’s a need for Othello to be played by anyone other than a person of colour, unless there were some kind of statement that the director was trying to make.
there's a Bollywood interpretation of Othello that is absolutely outstanding called Omkara. the director has taken Othello and cast him as a dacoit-turned-politician... if you ever get the chance to, you should watch it. it's completely faithful to Shakespeare's version of the play and it's one of the better Bollywood movies out there.
Hamlet, Macbeth , Midnight Summers Dream and all of it. This is so nice.
I flipped my shiz when I saw you did Othello - my absolute FAVORITE Shakespeare play (and I love Shakespeare, so that's saying something).
I recently saw a production of this in which they stopped the play right before the "seizure" scene so that the actor playing Othello could tell the story of "the night of seven Othellos" when, in theater school, he was about to play the part for the first time and six fellow actors spent an evening discussing it with him. One of them (who was actually dying of AIDS at the time) told him that the director would want him to have a seizure on stage and that he should push back. He asked why? And the guy replied "Because Iago is the only one who says that Othello has a seizure, and Iago lies."
That really stuck with me, so I wanted to share :)
+Liene's Library that's so interesting! I don't know that I enjoy the idea of an actor stopping midway through the play, but it's a really interesting thought that Othello may not have actually had a seizure! So many ways to unpick this play depending on how much you believe what Iago says.
haha, about stopping the play, I would normally agree with you but the whole production was very unusual in that respect. there was no set, and no costumes, just a warehouse-looking background and some chairs. The play opened with one of the actors, who was black but was playing Cassio, not Othello, doing a brief stand-up routine about what it's like to be black in America. Then, throughout the play, they would ring a bell, pause the action, and address or relate the scene to current events. They made a point of having Desdemona appear with a black eye after Othello slaps her (which scene I find is usually glossed over) and they did a Q&A with the audience about both the format of their production as well as how people related to the themes it was trying to address. Having seen and read the play before, I found it to be a refreshing and original way to do it, though I'm not sure I would have liked that to by my first time seeing it.
Great video - I would love to see more of these Shakespeare videos they are highly enjoyable - Verdi did three Great Operas based on Shakespeare's plays - Macbeth, Falstaff and Otello - all of which I can highly recommend.
Im so happy you decided to do Othello so early on - it's my absolute favourite Shakespeare play and I'm desperate to see it on stage! Thanks so much for this, I really enjoyed it! :)
This is a wonderful description of a magnificent play. While I do think there are one or two plays by Shakespeare that are "objectively" greater to my mind "Othello" is the one to which I most often return. Along with "Macbeth" it contains Shakespeare's greatest poetry. I never got the impression that Iago's desire that Bianca filch the handkerchief arose *before* he was passed over for promotion. I *do* think Iago's motive for revenge is the one he states at the very beginning of the play. The question that arises for me rather is why being passed over by Othello so destroyed and enraged him. I don't think Othello and Iago can be fully understood without seeing their psychologies as complimentary. Othello projects his identity into someone else (his wife); that faith is destroyed, and his sense of identity falls with it (Othello referring to his wife as his "fair warrior" is projection if I've ever seen it). Iago 's identity lies in his faith in Othello but when Othello "rejects" him he loses his sense of who he is to the point that Cassio's beauty becomes a threat and he irrationally suspects other prominent men to be sleeping with his wife. Ultimately, I think Shakespeare was developing a psychological model of "jealousy" with both characters.
I LOVE how you're doing these! The Kenneth Branagh film is done extremely well. I studied the play in year 11 at my school and I loved it
You should check out Keith Hamilton Cobb's "American Moor," a one-man play about a Black actor auditioning for the role of Othello. Really fascinating and brings new light to the racial implications of the play.
I love this series! You do such a great job! I'd love to see a video on The Merchant of Venice :)
I'm loving this series :) Could you do one for The Twelfth Night? Also, if you're ever in Vancouver, BC you should check out the Bard on the Beach productions...they're great.
Thank you for your work!!! I absolutely loved it!!! Just subscribed!!!😊🌸🌷 Also I would love to watch a Macbeth analysis!!!🙋🏻
Well luckily..... ua-cam.com/video/-Oi6erQz3UQ/v-deo.html 😉
Reads and Daydreams Thank you soo much!!! I’ve just watched it 15 minutes ago!!! Loved it!!! 👍🌸✨🌸✨
I agree that it doesn't make sense for a white actor to play Othello, but I do understand why they still want to - he's the lead! Beyond that, as you've pointed out, there are other characters who, quite frankly, are just as interesting. It also seems that race is a minor point in Othello, the primary being different faces of deception and jealousy, so perhaps it wasn't seen so much as a racial issue in previous incarnations. Still, it would be great to see a current version with a black or Middle Eastern Othello, as we have so many very competent actors who could do an excellent job in the role.
Most modern productions do cast non-white actors, Michael Gambon was the last (at least officially!) white actor to 'black-up' for Othello. Yeah, no I understand why and actor would want to play Othello. Heck, I might want to play Othello. But there are some parts that, unless the play is purposefully changed (Maxine Peake in Hamlet for example), you're just never going to get to play, and what I was getting at is that that's ok, not every part is for everyone :)
So are Othello and Iago are monstrous mad?!
I saw a performance a couple of years ago where Iago was played by a black man, which portrayed his jealousy as not to do with racial prejudice. Also would love to see a video about The Taming of the Shrew, I'm doing it at college and struggling to work out how I feel about it. There's a lot to talk about
That's a really interesting take!
Can you do a video on The Taming of the Shrew? I read it recently and I think most of it went over my head! Thanks!
Great content. thank you.
You should watch "O" with Michael Sheen and Mekhi Phifer. It's the best Shakespeare modern-day adaptation I've seen
Amazing, I love Michael Sheen! Thanks for the recommendation x
Reads and Daydreams damn, I'm dumb. MARTIN Sheen. I always get their names mixed up. anyway, he's great, they're both great, but yeah "O" definitely worth watching. it's scary how a lot of the racial tensions translate to the 21st century adaptation.
Hey could you do a video on 'As you Like it' or Much Ado About Nothing' please, I am doing my alevel coursework on them x
Thank you so much.
Hope this will help me in my semester exam
In my country the people are not racially diverse enough (yet) to have plenty of dark skinned actors who could play Othello, so it's always interesting to see how different directors approach the subject of race in the play. I particularly liked a production where they just "didn't bother" doing anything about it visually. Othello was played by a white actor (who happens to be on a wheelchair, so arguably, a certain "otherness" was present) and it did not matter at all. It was like going back to the essence of what a "play" is. Like the audience was in on it, we knew Othello *was* black and we played along.
Am I making any sense? I hope so.
Lauren are you a literature teacher... your videos are wonderful? I am introducing my sister to Shakespeare who never read it in school and so these are awesome
Othello is in my top 3 (with Hamlet & MacBeth). My favourite stage production was at the National Theatre with Adrian Lester & Rory Kinnear www.imdb.com/title/tt3224254/. (It was little bit strange though seeing Desdemona in jeans and T-shirt but addressing her husband "My Lord" lol ).
It is great video, but I disagree about the motives. I think Iago feels betrayed by him that he didn't promote him. Sort of like "Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned" from The Mourning Bride.
Hi Lauren, do you have any thoughts on the Othello and Desdemona scene portrayed a few times in Stage Beauty with Billy Crudup and Claire Danes?
I saw Stage Beauty a long while ago, but I'd just finished studying Othello at the time and I remember really enjoying the scene when they do it on stage and he does actually nearly murder her - was a really interesting take on how the actors/characters are really feeling and I liked how it blurred the play with reality. Other than that I'm afraid my memory of the film is pretty fuzzy!
I heard one theory that Emilia was having an affair with Othello as a possible motive for Iago.
Hi, lovely video! I am a bit confused by you saying Iago had no motive - do you find the jealousy (regarding both the job and Emilia) not enough of a motive? I always found his actions clearly stemming from that, espicially when on a surface level the play seems to be about Othello's jealousy. The fact that Iago's awful to Emilia at the same time just provides more material for the actor's interpretation and characterization.
Also, in claiming only black actors should play Othello, you're demanding the same level of realism those diretors who went for the black makeup did.
+Plays and Parasols no it's not that I don't find those enough of a motive, I find it hard to believe that they actually ARE his motives because Iago lies. We don't see enough of his character in his soliloquies to know whether those really are his true motives or whether they're just excuses he gives to Rodrigo.
Not sure I understand your point about race and realism? I'm not necessarily claiming only black actors can play the part - anyone can play the part IF you don't make the play about race, or you're making some other racial point (e.g. the Patrick Stewart production) What I disapprove of is any actor using makeup to portray a difference race to their own. If you really want a middle eastern character, hire a middle eastern actor etc. It's the 'black face' element of it that I think's ridiculous.
Well I am not that well informed on numbers of British drama school graduates of colour around the middle of 20th century, but I suspect there were very little. So, if you only have white experienced actors available and you're making a realistic, not very directorial production (probably someone like Brook might have done it differently if he did Othello), the natural thing is to use makeup. Just as now with lots of actors of different races and after lots of Guardian articles about diversity and representation, the natural thing is to cast an actor from the correct region. It certainly is great in terms of representation, but I don't think it necessarily says anything about the quality of the productions, more about the social context of the time.
As someone from a country with virtually no racial diversity, I don't find the makeup thing offensive in any way, because that's how it's often done here to this day. So I am not surprised at all that a few decades ago when there were sadly not that many actors of colour at the forefront of public attention, outstanding white actors would be cast in the UK as well. If you've got Paul Scofield hanging around, you're gonna want to cast him :-) After all theatre is about transformation and British acting especially is based heavily on using a mask (at least the Olivier branch of the Olivier vs. Gielgud spectrum).
It is quite nice to see I guess that there's been such a huge shift in the few decades that you find it so unthinkable. I'm not saying by any means that you're not right, I just think it's important to...keep a certain appreciation for this potential of transformation? Hope it makes sense :-)
My first experience of Othello was a performance by the RSC where there were a fair few non-white cast members, including Iago, so now I often forget that he wasn't written non-white. It made for an interesting twist on certain interactions and conversations. It makes me SO uncomfortable that white actors have played Othello, there is really no excuse.
Did Iago suspect Otello of sleeping with his wife Amilia? It seems to me Iago says something to this effect in the first part of the play.
+Lillian Nieswender he does say that to Rodrigo at the beginning of the play, but again it's such a throwaway line and never mentioned again, either in Iago's soliloquies or in his interactions with Emilia. Knowing what we do about Othello's character I think it's unlikely that this happened or that Iago really believes it, but that he is perhaps trying to further Rodrigo's jealousy and anger.
Can you do Much Ado About Nothing?
+Dylan Furr that's coming imminently! 😊
+Road and Daydreams yes!
While, of course, I agree that the role of Othello shouldn’t be deprived from black actors; I don’t believe that the use of people like Gambon or Stewart or even Olivier is meant from the bigoted perspective of the 19th century actors blacking up. It’s clearly simply a really coveted character by all, no matter the race. To them, it’s like complaining when a black actor plays Hamlet. They just want to experience a character with such depth. But you’re right the clear messages of race make most of that invalid. What can you say? Hindsight is 20/20
It’s not that I think that Olivier or Gambon actively thought they were being racist, or that anybody at that time intended the blacking-up as any kind of caricature; I simply think they didn’t even consider it. Olivier just wanted to play Othello. I imagine he just saw the makeup as part of his costume.
But, the point I’m trying to make is, why does any white actor *have* to play Othello? You say it’s like denying a black actor the part of Hamlet, but historically that kind of thing DOES happen. Black actors were (and still are) passed over to play the big historical parts because it’s not ‘accurate’. This is one of those big meaty parts that specifically calls for a person of colour - is the world really going to be that much poorer if we don’t get Patrick Stewart’s interpretation? As I say, it’s not bigoted as such, it’s just selfish and greedy. Lady Macbeth is also a hugely coveted role, why not play her as well?
You’re right in that we shouldn’t judge the past by today’s morals, but nowadays and going forward I don’t see why there’s a need for Othello to be played by anyone other than a person of colour, unless there were some kind of statement that the director was trying to make.