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Othello was written in 1604 as part of Shakespeare’s tragic period which included plays like Antony and Cleopatra, Hamlet, Macbeth and King Lear.  It is set in the times where war waged between Turkey and Venice, the protagonist, a Moorish general symbolizing the importance of war to the play. Shakespeare was believed to have derived the script for Othello from the Italian writer Giovanni Battista Giraldi Cinzo (otherwise known as Cinthio,) in 1565. His tale was of a man who was tricked into believing that his wife was unfaithful to him. Shakespeare then added other important characters to the play such as Desdemona’s father Brabanzio and Rodrigo, and made Iago, who was originally a minor character, into one of the most well known Shakespearian villains of all time!  Shakespeare was thought to have written Othello to explore the concepts of jealously and of racism. The idea of an interracial couple; Desdemona and Othello was one that during Shakespeare’s time was very controversial and uncommon however I feel that this idea speaks to many more people today, leading to a deeper understanding by a modern day audience.  

(Joel Granger and Hannah Foreman)

When Kristin school performed this script extract as a fifteen minute scene in 2009 they made use of a candle, which Othello held as he spoke. We also saw symbolism in the light of the candle and used it for example, as Othello sat on the end of Desdemona’s bed. He appeared fixated with it showing his troubling decision whether or not to kill his wife – and therefore “put out the light.”

When Othello first speaks he is approaching the sleeping, Desdemona. The above image depicts this however in our scene we did not put Othello in a white, pure costume because we did not want him to be shown as similar to Desdemona. Instead, in our five minute scene his costume matches that of Emilia’s as both characters wear browns, and duller colours. This similarity between the two characters symbolises the fact that both are seemingly good people who have done wrong; Emilia because of her desperate attempts to please her husband, and Othello because of the web of lies spun for him by Iago.

(Michelle Fairley and Kelly Reilly)

Past productions have often made Emilia a slightly older looking woman and so we tried to replicate this with my costume and hair pulled back into a tight bun contrasting with the loose white nightie and flowing hair of Desdemona which showed her to be young.

(Lenny Henry)

Past productions of Othello most commonly feature a dark skinned man as Othello however we decided not to try and replicate this (see ‘Concept’ for more details.) Since Othello was written there has always been an interest surrounding the racial mix of actors playing the characters. There has been casts, all of dark skin, all of white skin and situations where Othello has been the only white skinned character.

Othello has been adapted for the screen, ballet, opera and it was even performed in 1959 with the use of rock and roll music.