• Next message: Ken Steele: "Sumptuary Laws (Cont'd)"
• Previous message: Ken Steele: "Recent Books Received by *Milton Quarterly*"
• Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ]

Shakespeare Electronic Conference, Vol. 2, No. 112. Monday, 22 Apr 1991.
 
Date:    	Mon, 22 Apr 1991 13:18:29 EDT
From: 		Jay Funston <FAC_JLFUNSTO@VAX1.ACS.JMU.EDU>
Subject: 2.0110  New York *Othello*
Comment: 	RE: SHK 2.0110  New York *Othello*
 
I must agree with Kay Stockholder that modern actors and directors are
certainly able to empathize with outsiders, even those of long ago,
although the production of "Othello" that sticks most in my mind is
the ancient one with Paul Robison (as Othello), Uta Hagen as Desdemona,
and Jose Ferrer as Iago.  That was the work that first interested me
in Shakespeare, but it might have aroused less interest had I first
seen Olivier's movie version with his dreamy, overly sensual and
somewhat effeminate Othello with his idiotic profile appearing at
critical moments.  I'd probably have gone to some other line of
endeavor had I thought that to be Shakespeare's idea.  But my second-
balcony seat vibrated to Othello's wrath, and I had no problem with
his succumbing to the ingenious sleaziness of Iago.  I had no thought
that the moral might be "lady, look to your linen," or anything else,
for that matter.  Instead I was carried into the intensity of
Othello's love and his agony at his wife's falseness.
 
					Jay Funston

• Next message: Ken Steele: "Sumptuary Laws (Cont'd)"
• Previous message: Ken Steele: "Recent Books Received by *Milton Quarterly*"
• Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ]