Othello: mirror, mirror

There's a surprising theme that links this year’s mainstage shows at "Bard on the Beach":http://www.bardonthebeach.org/: twins. They feature in The Comedy of Errors, which opens next week. They also, perhaps unexpectedly, make an appearance in their sleek production of *Othello* directed by Dean Paul Gibson.

Where received wisdom sees Othello and Iago as opposites: the noble warrior versus the scheming underling, Gibson gives us with Bob Frazer an Iago who runs his intrigues not as a lowlife rat but rather like the general he aspires to be. The result is an Iago not as Othello’s opposite but rather his mirror, his equal which illuminates the text in exciting ways although it does lead to some drawbacks in the dramatic tension of the piece.

Although set in the Venetian army, Othello is really a domestic drama with Iago a sort of conspiring younger brother with designs to undermine the more senior Othello over perceived or real hurts (he was overlooked for preferment and claims that the big O is topping his missus). In the end, I don’t think anyone really buys these hurts as a rationale for Iago’s behaviour and we’re left to conclude that there is something baser at work: whether prejudice, sibling jealousy, displaced homoerotic desire or just pure evil. I think it’s fair to say that this production largely opts for the latter. Through an elaborate plan that involves a small network of people connected to the “family”, Iago gives Othello (Michael Blake) reason to believe that his recent bride, Desdemona (Naomi Wright), is getting it on with Cassio (Kevin MacDonald).

Don’t let the title fool you. Othello is Iago’s play. Like Milton’s Satan, he has the best lines and is far and away the most compelling and complex character. It is his intrigues and machinations that provide the juice that moves the story forward. When he’s on stage – particularly with Frazer’s performance – things are kinetic, when he’s off stage, as he is for the last quarter of the play, we long for his return or at least for Othello to get on with the inevitable. Of the great tragedies, Othello is perhaps the thinnest narratively (not necessarily a bad thing for modern audiences) and there is something about the structure which reminds me of a comedy. Along with the Macguffin over a handkerchief, this is perhaps best illustrated in Iago’s intrigue with Roderigo (he promises to help the poor fop land Desdemona and have revenge on Othello), the sort of set up you’d expect from one of the comedies but with a seam of darkness that culminates in Roderigo’s death. It is as if Shakespeare is playing with form and expectations here. Frazer does fantastic work in playing the humour making a great double act with Parnelli Parnes as the hapless Roderigo (and a nice bit diverse casting, David C Jones take note).

With his straight-backed physicality and All American looks, Frazer is not necessarily the first person to come to mind when you think of a jealous, domestic Machiavelli. Frazer gives us an Iago filled with cunning, who delights in his cunning: a character whose motivation can easily be reduced to a form of pleasure-seeking. He and Gibson do an effective job of managing the asides to the audience so Iago is almost like the host in Cabaret, truly the master of ceremonies. As already mentioned, the casting also creates a fascinating mirroring between Frazer and Blake (even their costumes echo one another). Although Iago is not theoretically in charge (in fact, he is at best third in line), this never reads on stage as Frazer conducts his intrigues just out of sight of Othello. I was fascinated by this interpretation. I found myself considering Frazer and Blake as two sides of the same character, the Id and the Ego perhaps.

This all works splendidly right up until the moment Othello, out of frustration over the bile Iago has been pouring into his ear, physically threatens his underling. Suddenly the conceit of mirroring slipped for me. I never bought that Frazer – a shade taller than Blake and with far more stage gravity – was in any physical danger. If he was “scared” it had to be an act and therefore simply another level of deceit and misdirection. The problem with an Iago who is not frightened is that it robs the piece of a vital layer of tension: Iago is running a game with a high level of personal risk. This risk is both physical: he could be thrashed by Othello; and societal: he could be exposed. With a character so outwardly in command of the situation, Frazer comes off a little too much like the devil and just like you know Satan will lose in the end, you never quite believe it when it happens.

You also need to believe that Othello is in some crucial respect superior to Iago but the play doesn’t always make this easy to achieve. Othello, the play, tells a story largely dependent on what "Siskel and Ebert":http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070731/COMME... term the “idiot plot”, basically that in order to move the narrative along the central character must behave like an idiot. At times, Othello’s behaviour can only be termed as wilfully stupid. Where one would expect a soldier hardened by war to simply grab Desdemona by the hair and put a knife to her throat and request calmly “is my man topping you”, we get a guy who wrings his hands, talks obliquely to the missus and falls for the most lame of ruses (out of earshot, he observes Iago talking to Cassio and believes they are taking about Desdemona, again a plot device that would sit more comfortably in a comedy).

Othello is far from being alone as a Shakespearean character who behaves in an incomprehensible manner. In terms of managing this dilemma, I found that Blake only gets part way there. Not that there aren’t strong moments, there are. For example the scene where Iago first plants seeds of doubt in Othello’s mind is well played by both performers. However, at other moments Blake, to my taste at least, overplays his hand. Instead of using the language to support his emotional state, Blake declaims dramatically, particularly towards the end. This may have been opening night stiffness and perhaps he will grow into the role as the run continues. Still, I wish Blake had reined it in a bit, trusted the text to support a naturalistic interpretation and emulated the cool ease Frazer has with the language.

Another choice which didn’t work for me was in creating a Desdemona drained of sexuality. Against the more flashy Emilia (Jennifer Lines) and Bianca (a super-charged Amber Lewis), the usually captivating Wright seemed as earnest and grey as her costume. I’m not quite sure why they went for this dowdy, de-sexualized route. Perhaps it was to make the charges of infidelity against her even more outrageous (which, of course, has the impact of making Othello seem even more stupid). To my mind, it is a much more interesting proposition if there is a real sense of erotic charge between Othello and Desdemona that can at least lend an air of credibility to Othello’s mistrust.

Despite these (admittedly largely abstract) shortcomings, this is a slick, handsome production. The three hours flew by and I was engaged the entire time. Bard is often accused of serving up easy to digest Shakespeare but with this production they prompted me into a process of rethinking a classic text (as seen from above) and for this they should be applauded. And, as always with Bard, it was wonderful to once again see the strange beauty that occurs when the actors exit the back of the stage, disappearing into the horizon: a rare, captivating magic that means that summer has arrived.

_Othello, by William Shakespeare. Directed by Dean Paul Gibson. A Bard on the Beach production. In the Mainstage tent in Vanier Park. The production Continues until September 25 for more information intrigue your way_ "here":http://www2.bardonthebeach.org/othello.html.