'Othello' presented by Insurgo Theater Movement
- When: January 8 through January 30
- Where: 900 E. Karen Ave., #D114 (Commercial Center)
- Cost: $20
- For more information: 369-3962
Taking a typically atypical approach to Shakespeare's Othello, Insurgo Theater Movement gives the tragedy a twist — an inversion of color-blind casting: Artistic director John Beane is playing the title role, ordinarily performed by a dark-skinned actor.
Other famous Othellos include Paul Robeson, James Earl Jones and, more recently, Chiwetel Ejiofor. But a white Othello is hardly unprecedented: Laurence Olivier and Orson Welles played the part onstage and screen in dark makeup; Patrick Stewart played the role in an otherwise all-black cast.
Insurgo's casting choice is not a black-and-white gimmick, says Beane, who is also directing (as did Olivier and Welles).
"Saying Othello is about race is like saying A Midsummer Night's Dream is about a flower," he says. "Race is a catalyst, one of several. But the play is the story of a villain, a beast — this mad jealousy. It is very nearly an infection — almost every character grapples with it in some way."
It's more important, Beane says, to understand that Othello is a warrior, and a man newly in love, on unfamiliar ground.
"There is an exotic quality to him. We are not specifying his race, but there is an otherness."
Othello — the first main-stage production in Insurgo's new Commercial Center space — is about courage and conviction, Beane says.
"Othello does not have half the proof of unrighteous behavior that Desdemona does, but she decides to believe in him — in them — she will not leave the love story. It is, as most great works are, a story about choices and our ability to craft reality in relation to our courage."
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