This week Woody shares some thoughts on how By Jove’s Othello stands.
Hello. A few days ago we had a little Work in Progress showing of our Othello, written and directed by SJ Brady, at the CLF Theatre, Peckham. I went to see it and thought I’d share a few thoughts – let you know how we’re going, sort of thing. I’m not directly involved with the production, so what follows is simply the perspective of one audience member. I hope it will give a halfway fair impression.
First, speaking as a man who spends a large chunk of his time hunched over a laptop tapping at a keyboard, I would like first to discuss the writing of the piece a little. In the sanctum sanctorum of By Jove HQ there stands carved on granite our Theatrical Commandments, given to us by Dionysus, God of Theatre, himself. Fairly high up that list is the instruction that all By Jove’s work shall be either new writing or new writing in conversation with old. SJ’s script is a wonderful conversation. It flows seamlessly and full of grace between the Bard’s words and SJ’s own. There were bits which I was fairly certain were by the man from Stratford, and parts I’d wager were new, but I couldn’t spot the transitions. With Shakespeare’s writing as lauded as it is, I feel it’s a good compliment to a writer to say they made the flow between them effortless. The play hovered nicely between high style and the more colloquial, comfortable in its moderation. Sitting in this middle ground meant we the audience were never taken out of the flow by the language – if it got flowery or if it made use of certain four letter examples of Anglo-Saxon. I had been concerned of the possibility that the conversation between the Bard and the modern might be jarring, that balance might not be achieved, but achieved it was. With my possibly pretentious, pseudo-literary nerves settled I could enjoy the turn of phrase and expression, and more importantly pay attention to and enjoy the play.
Enjoy the play is exactly what I did. I was really rather impressed with the quality of what I saw. I was even more impressed when in the bar afterwards someone mentioned they’d only had about a fortnight of rehearsals at the the time of the Work in Progress. (I might start abbreviating that to “WIP”, so I can say things like “At By Jove we like to give our actors a thorough WIPping every now and then, just to keep them on their toes”). One particularly encouraging thing was just how clear everything was. With a new piece of writing and a short rehearsal period one might expect things to be a tad muddy in places. No fear of that with this piece. I must confess I had neither read nor seen any version of Othello before going to the WIP and I had no trouble following things. Nor was this pudding over-egged which is the other side one can fall off this tightrope.
Let’s get a little more specific; a WIP’s no use to anyone if we just wave it around vaguely. Our Othello is magnificent; an initially self-controlled character who is commanding when asserting her authority, but then scary in how she vents her wounded jealousy. Our Iago is a delight to watch. He doesn’t get the respect he thinks he deserves in his professional world, and he seems neither to care for nor want the love he gets from Emilia (who is heartbreakingly loyal) so sets about using a front of charisma to be an utter bastard. Our dear Desdemona, buffeted by and reacting to the actions of her father Bribantio and later her lover, was never passive; she invoked respect and pity and did so effortlessly. Her character was innocent but not wilting, inexperienced but not ignorant. Cassio was not a happy bunny – his change from rage at Roderigo to despairing shame when Othello castigates him for this was a particularly wonderful moment for me as a fan of Aristotelian downfall, and a great warning of what Iago’s machinations could do. Roderigo and Lord Bribantio were played by the same actor. As the lord he was pissedly amusing and as the young soldier type amusing in his low status. The portrayal of the lord also deserves mention for the realisation of his judgmental anger at his daughter’s marriage. Oh, in our versions Cassio’s lover is Bianco instead of Bianca, and this character was performed with some of the better comic timing I’ve seen.
This was a WIP and not a fully-fledged show and there is room for improvement. The piece needs something more by way of a set, for example. There were one or two issues with sightlines. The use of music could be more fully integrated with the rest of the piece. I had occasion to chat with some of the performers in the bar afterwards and, actors being what they are, everyone felt there were layers and subtleties and details that could be brought to bear. I’m looking forward to that bit in particular, because I couldn’t fault anyone’s performance. I have invested in a measuring stick to see precisely how far they can knock my socks off when those layers are put in place.
So, with a little work and practice with this WIP, come August we shall have something incredibly strong with which to excite people in a darkened room. We look forward to seeing you then.
One hopes you’re well,
Yours,
ADWoodward
