Shakespeare Bulletin

This year, Shakespeare Santa Cruz's multi-purpose set, built from scratch amidst the redwoods in the Sinsheimer-Stanley Festival Glen, served both for Othello and (with some clever modifications) for Love's Labour's Lost as well. A complex network of multi-leveled open platforms and balconies, made from raw exposed wood with central modules of black metal railings and wire mesh, the set embodied the complex layerings of both plays' plots. On the stage level, three small black chambers walled with black wire mesh and black wooden blinds and doors served as entrances and exits as well as strategic eavesdropping or spying locations. Emphasizing the triangulated power struggle between Othello's three main characters (Othello, Iago, and Cassio), there were three black thrust platforms that extended out from the main stage left, center, and right.

The play opened to the surging beat of heavy drums and loud electric guitar, evoking the dark and violent energy that infused the production. Conceptualized in modern Naval dress, this production of Othello unfolded visually as a military power struggle and race scandal, contextualized by a highly corporate mode for the Duke's domain: he and all of his minions were in dark business suits and ties, and his throne room [End Page 211] was designated by the addition of one large, elegantly upholstered chair placed center stage. During the military scenes, the other soldiers onstage all wore short-sleeved khaki Navy uniforms and hats with insignia appropriate to a Private's rank. All had both gun holsters and knives, which were drawn alternatively during fight scenes.

Iago, conventionally cast as a middle-aged white man, was thin, pasty, and harried looking, wearing wire rimmed glasses, and a short-sleeved khaki Navy uniform and hat with appropriate medals and ranking for an Ensign. He carried a gun in a side holster and, as seen later, a knife strapped to his calf. There was very little charismatic about this Iago; in fact he had a rather coarse, brusque delivery when in the presence of subordinates, a fawning sycophancy with superiors, and a leering arrogance when addressing the audience in soliloquy. His villainy was pathetically ingratiating with Othello, but crusty and demented when alone onstage.

Iago's sidekick and dupe, Roderigo, was well directed in that he always appeared to be skulking along the periphery of the stage, glowering in a dim-witted, gullible way. Dressed in a "guido" aesthetic—open shirt, Italian clothing and shoes, gold chain, several rings, a big watch, his hair slicked back—he was distinctly not in uniform, but in casual earth-toned civilian clothes. In contrast, Desdemona's blusteringly indignant father Brabantio, who entered on the upper level of the stage as if roused from sleep, was wearing blue silk pajamas and an opulent purple brocaded robe with gold and scarlet trim, bespeaking his wealth. Brabantio played the part with alternating fury and cold racism, and during his remonstrations with Desdemona and Othello the audience audibly gasped and recoiled.

The strength of this...