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The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 12.2809  Tuesday, 11 December 2001

[1]     From:   Jack Hettinger <Jack_Hettinger@mail.msj.edu>
        Date:   Monday, 10 Dec 2001 15:52:05 -0500
        Subj:   RE: SHK 12.2801 NYT Review of the Public's OTHELLO

[2]     From:   John Velz <jvelz@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu>
        Date:   Monday, 10 Dec 2001 17:49:04 -0600
        Subj:   Strong Iagos


[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Jack Hettinger <Jack_Hettinger@mail.msj.edu>
Date:           Monday, 10 Dec 2001 15:52:05 -0500
Subject: 12.2801 NYT Review of the Public's OTHELLO
Comment:        RE: SHK 12.2801 NYT Review of the Public's OTHELLO

Brad Berens asks,

“... is it better to have a terrific actor playing Iago who overpowers
the actor playing Othello, or should the two characters be evenly
balanced at a lesser level?  Which combination serves the play better?
Which serves the audience better?”

Iago is a wonderful malcontent and a marvelous study of anger, but I
think any production that let’s him steal the show misses the point: we
live through Othello, not Iago--in Othello we see our own craving for
the ocular proof, we recognize our own stupid pride; like him we are
profoundly fools and dupes. Few lines chill me more than “Put out the
light, and then put out the light.” We know what we are soon to do and
yet we cannot think of why we ought to pause.

Jack

[2]-------------------------------------------------------------
From:           John Velz <jvelz@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu>
Date:           Monday, 10 Dec 2001 17:49:04 -0600
Subject:        Strong Iagos

Bradley Berens asks (SHK 12.2801) about having strong Iagos opposite
Othellos.

I recall having seen Jose Ferrer play Iago opposite Paul Robeson’s
baritone and barrel-chested Othello on Broadway when I was 16 just after
WWII.  It was very nearly my first Shakespeare and I was thrilled.
Ferrer played a Douglas Fairbanks Sr. sort of Iago, not quite swinging
from balconies, but next best thing.  He made the most of his
soliloquies which are sure to ensnare an audience if spoken well.  As a
result there was, I now realize, a destructive struggle between two
strong actors going on throughout the play.  When Iago was onstage we
were in his pocket.  When Othello came onstage he had to win the
audience’s commitment back to himself.  I found the acting thrilling,
but it was actually some kind of disaster.  The play MUST NOT become--or
even threaten to become-- Iago’s play.  It must be Othello’s tragedy.
So Ferrer was doing some scene stealing and should not have been allowed
to do so.  I wonder now who the director was.  He should have stepped on
Ferrer.

Cheers,
John W.V.

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