Othello at Open Book on 10/23/09

By: John Olive

---

Luverne Seifert as Iago and Ansa Akyea as Othello in Ten Thousand Things' "Othello." - Photo credit Peter Vitale

There's a genuine charge in the air before one of Ten Thousand Things’ raw, stripped-down – no lights – always gorgeously-acted plays. Perhaps it's my overheated imagination, but it seems like you can smell it, a combination of the well-scuffed wooden floor and the lathered passion of the performers. Whatever the source, it's palpable and it was much in evidence at the public opening of Shakespeare's Othello (Ten Thousand Things, at Open Book Fri-Sun through Nov 8, then at the Minnesota Opera Center through Nov 15; check the website, tenthousandthings.org, for details). The show is marvelous, with a focused emphasis on the sumptuous language and on the frightening (and thrilling) story. 

 

Othello, as everyone knows, is black – a "moor", Elizabethan shorthand for anyone with dark skin. The two directors (Michelle Hensley and Sonja Parks) attempt to inject layers to the play by casting actors of color and by doing some judicious gender bending (Brabantio, Desdemona's parent, is a woman). This all works to a point; still there's no denying that the play, here in the 21st century, no longer has the racial intensity it once did (as, for example, in the famous 1940s production with Paul Robeson). Still, Othello's color adds tremendous spice. Newly appointed leader of the army, he elopes with the beautiful (and porcelain white) Desdemona, then heads off the battlefields of Cyprus where, victorious, he invites his new bride into his tent. This potent blend of bloodlust and eroticism creates a unique opportunity for Iago, whose hatred for Othello seems boundless, to wreak murderous jealousy-fueled mayhem.

As Othello, Ansa Akyea is initially a bit stiff and pedestrian, but he comes into his own as Iago spins his vile magic. Othello's descent into madness is beautifully rendered. Akyea's movements become tight and crazed, he sweats, and there's a dizzying sense that at any moment he's going to spin off into violence. Othello's strangulation of Desdemona comes as no surprise; still, it horrifies. Wonderful. 

Luverne Seifert plays Iago and it's one of the best performances this reviewer has seen in a good long while. He revels in the post-modern nastiness-for-its-own-sake bravado of it all. Manipulating, whispering, laughing, an over-grown imp with a deep space-filling voice and a charismatically scary serial killer gleam in his eyes. His murder of the hapless Roderigo, the almost sexual breathlessness of it, is incredible. Here is the reason to go see this play.

This is not to diminish the work of the other actors in this first-rate ensemble; they are uniformly excellent. Tracey Maloney's Desdemona is sweet, albeit in a daringly erotic way, but her playing of the moment when Othello slaps her, her slow recovery, her deliberate rise to face him with fresh understanding of the monster he's becoming, bumps her performance up to a new level. Christiana Clark plays the problematic part of Emilia with genuine intelligence, and makes it work. As Cassio and Roderigo, Peter Hansen and Matt Sciple are appropriately gullible. Kimberly Richardson does the Duke, the messenger and the whorish Bianca with precision and focus. Peter Vitale's percussive underscoring never intrudes and adds richness to the action. 

As always the case with TTT productions, they have spent the last few weeks doing the play at prisons, residential treatment centers, north side churches, Native American training centers, etc. This lends the proceedings real intensity. 

Definitely recommended.

---

Location Info: Open Book
Artist Info: Ten Thousand Things

Share this story:

Article comments powered by Disqus