Summary 
Faithful reproduction of an indoor Jacobean staging, this final preview of a touring production focuses first on Iago then on the confident young Othello. Onstage music and strong supporting performances enhance a well-staged production anchored by memorable portrayals of Iago and Othello.
Design
Directed by Jim Warren. Costume design by Stefanie Genda.
Cast
Fernando Lamberty (Othello), Stephanie Holladay Earl (Desdemona), Rick Blunt (Iago), Bridget Rue (Emilia), Patrick Earl (Cassio), Emily Joshi-Powell (Bianca/Clown), Patrick Midgley (Roderigo), Colin Ryan (Duke/Lodovico), David Millstone (Brabantio/ Gratiano), Joey Ibanez (Senator/Montano), Russell Daniels (Senator).
Analysis
Jim Warren directs the final preview performance of Othello at the American Shakespeare Center's Blackfriars Playhouse. An ensemble of eleven performers is taking the production and a couple of others on a regional tour, and they begin with a half hour of singing and music. The first song is Pink's "Just Give Me a Reason" - "learn to love again" - with its lyrics, like all the song selections, reflecting on the play that is about to begin: "right from the start, you were a thief you stole my heart, and I your willing victim." Rick Blunt, who will star as Iago, is a gregarious young man with a bald head, a ZZ Top-length beard, and merry twinkling eyes, and he works the still-arriving crowd to encourage on-stage concession sales - pushing "instant gratification" - and sell raffle tickets for an autographed-by-the-cast Othello poster. The songs include Arcade Fire's "Crown of Love" - "if you still want me please forgive me" - and Austin Mahone's "Say Somethin'" sandwiching a rousingly-sung version of The Four Tops' "Standing in the Shadows of Love": "just tryin' my best to get ready for the heartaches to come."
The singing musicians onstage get a brief respite as company members Patrick Earl and Emily Joshi-Powell - who will be playing Cassio and Bianca, respectively - address the audience to relate the usual theatrical admonition against photography as well as provide some background on ASC and its performance style, pointing out the dozen gallants' stools onstage - six per side - and the box-seat lords' chairs behind railings, also on either side of the stage. Earl and Joshi-Powell describe the space's construction as modeled from indoor Jacobean theatres and that the performance will be authentic, with natural light only, a large thrust stage, minimal props and set design, and ample interaction with the audience. In a cute inside joke, Joshi-Powell feigns a sneeze and Earl hands her a strawberry-embroidered handkerchief ala Othello's mother, and the pre-show concert concludes with the Mountain Goats' "Love Love Love" - "some things you do for money but some you do for love" - setting the mood for the play: "King Saul fell on his sword when it all went wrong."
Warren's ensemble interacts with the audience throughout the production. They sometimes address the first few rows or the patrons in the slightly elevated Lords' Chairs, but typically they interact with the people seated on the Gallants' Stools. Blunt's Iago, in particular, establishes a rapport with nearby audience members, entering 1.1 in striped naval pants, vest and white pirate shirt, and black boots. He fist bumps an audience member on a Gallant's Stool - "I follow but myself" - then in 2.1 he points out a potential suitor in the audience, and during 3.3 he leans forward to stress that "to be direct and honest is not safe." Joshi-Powell's Clown works the crowd, dancing with an audience member 2.2, then asking a man to light a zippo torch so she can toast a marshmallow skewered on the end of a pointed stick. When the man fails repeatedly to get the lighter lit, she snatches it from him and hands it to another patron, who gets a flame going on the first try and enjoys a healthy round of applause from the audience. The Clown also exhorts the crowd to chant "Othello! Othello!" before the General's triumphant arrival in Cyprus. Earl's Cassio condemns a patron 2.3 in the front row - "there be souls must be sav'd, and there be souls must not be sav'd!" - and Stephanie Holladay Earl's Desdemona involves the audience: her 2.1 descriptions of women for Iago has her pointing out different types of ladies in the theatre, some seated in the general-admission balcony; and her 3.4 search for the missing handkerchief includes lifting a sneaker and looking under a sandal at the Gallants' Stools then maintaining conversation with Emilia and the Clown while leaning over a railing to look around the Lords' Chairs. Finally, Bridget Rue's no-nonsense Emilia offers chillingly out-of-the-moment asides, turning to the audience 3.4 to wonder about husbands - "they are all but stomachs, and we all but food; to eat us hungerly, and when they are full, they belch us" - then in 4.3 gesturing at the audience for women that abuse their husbands - "there be some such, no doubt" - and sounding ominous over reciprocation: "let them use us well."
Shakespeare's Act 1 relies heavily on Blunt's Iago, the evil ensign admitting in an aside that he is seeking vengeance for Othello (supposedly) bedding Emilia. Blunt brings the same blustery gusto as he does with his Falstaff in the company's Henry IV Part 1, and while it works better in the history play, it works here as well, with deceit and murderous cunning lurking beneath the surface of the smiling everyman. Blunt's Iago dominates the eager-to-please Roderigo 1.1, rousting Brabantio from his sleep and using a throat-cutting gesture to try to prevent his name from being disclosed. Warren shows him leading Roderigo off stage 1.1 by torchlight then almost immediately marching right back in 1.2, still brandishing a burning torch but this time leading Fernando Lamberty's Othello. Iago joins Cassio in defending the General by drawing his sword, but he whispers "put money in thy purse" repeatedly to Roderigo, planting subliminal messages, and he repeats "I hate the Moor" for emphasis, then makes Roderigo say it with him before turning to the audience in his soliloquy and enunciating each word with harsh care: "I...hate...the Moor."
Lamberty's Othello is a handsome and self-assured General with a commanding demeanor and a piercing stare. Bearded and wearing an ear-ring in his left ear, he is convincingly sincere as well as deliciously foreboding - "my life upon her faith" - and he kisses Desdemona silly on Cyprus 2.1. Holladay Earl's Desdemona, tall and thin and earnest, dressed in a flowing rust-and-violet brocade gown, is stronger than the typical Desdemona, sporting long dark hair. She inspires admiration, Cassio looking guilty and a bit pained at the 1.2 news that she has married Othello, and Roderigo seems stricken and sickened as she declares her love for the Moor 1.3. She kneels 1.2 before her father but turns to smile at Lamberty's Othello, only rising to kneel again before her husband and take his hands in hers. The incensed Brabantio shoves her into Othello's arms. Cassio seems more than smitten, and his effusive Florentine manners certainly work against him: he appears uncouth 2.1 when he kisses Desdemona on the mouth, his hands on her face as she kneels at Cyprus to pray for Othello's safety, and later when he foppishly kisses his three fingers and waves as if showering her with kisses.
Warren makes an interesting choice by including the seldom-used Clown character as, well, a literal clown in big red nose, enormous floppy Converse sneaker clown shoes, and a purple bowler hat adorned with an orange feather. The Clown's appearance is jarring - certainly anachronous among the otherwise Jacobean style costuming - but provides some relief from the mounting tension, and she leads the trio of horrendous musicians in their 3.1 serenade of Desdemona, making jokes about breaking wind before using a big shoe to stomp the stage and chase the musicians away. The comical interlude is sandwiched between intense scenes involving Blunt's Iago first deceiving Roderigo - crying "lechery!" at Cassio's fawning over Desdemona and breathing heavily in Roderigo's face as if to infect him - then deceiving Cassio himself, whining like a party-going teenager to get the reluctant lieutenant to imbibe. Cassio's comments about the importance of the Lieutenant over the Ensign have Blunt's Iago staring daggers into the audience, and after three of the soldiers stand upstage as if urinating on the curtain, Cassio pursues Roderigo, striking him twice in the face before finally being disarmed by Lamberty's Othello himself.
After Earl's Cassio drops to his knees - "reputation, reputation, reputation" - Blunt's Iago earns a brotherly hug of thanks for consoling the man, and he plays wicked puppet master throughout Act 3, manipulating character after character with his whispered confidences, earnest tone, and open expression. He has Roderigo, an icepack held to the side of his jaw, giving him an exasperated snort and a WTF look of shock at his 3.2 nonchalance, and 3.3 he buffets Lamberty's frowning Othello with "beware my lord of jealousy" then "look to your wife," and his "she did deceive her father in marrying you" draws gasps from the audience. He even manipulates his wife, Emilia having pilfered the strawberry handkerchief - slipping it between her breasts, tongue out, shaking her shoulders with glee - and he kisses her, snatching the handkerchief then twisting her away with a slap on the bottom.
Warren reveals the first cracks in the calm of Lamberty's Othello - "false to me!" - just before intermission. Othello grabs his ensign by the throat and throws him down before enduring Iago's recounting of Cassio's dreams of Desdemona: "he kisses me...hard." But when he drops to one knee - "damn her, lewd minx, damn her" - Iago is at his side, also kneeling, and newly promoted to lieutenant. The musical interlude begins with Elvis Presley's "Suspicious Minds" and a host of capable back-up singers, then a decidedly apropos cover of "If I Die Young" by Band Perry: "if I die young, bury me in satin, lay me down on a bed of roses." After Earl charms the audience with the perfectionist tuning of his guitar at center stage - "we tune because we care, and we want you to be happy" - the ensemble performs "Let it Die" by The Foo Fighters - "in too deep and out of time, why'd you have to go and let it die?" - and concludes with (I think) a Frankie Valli song ("hang on to what we've got") with its big clap-along finish and "don't let go" audience sing-along.
The second half of Warren's production begins with Othello's 3.4 descent into violence, and Lamberty evokes emotions well, frowning and rigid with anger, alternating between wonder and fury. Lamberty's Othello confronts Desdemona nose to nose 3.4 about the lost handkerchief, and by 4.1 his hands are trembling and he falls to his side in an epileptic seizure (Iago: "work on, my poison"). As his emotions become more and more repugnant, and his resolve - "I'll chop her to messes" - is insidiously spurred by Blunt's Iago: "strangle her in her bed." He slaps Desdemona in front of a shocked Lodovico 4.2 before spinning her round and round and grabbing her by the jaw to propel her away: "home! avaunt!" And in 4.2 he tosses coins at her feet - "impudent strumpet!" - as if she was a common whore, while on the periphery, Iago struts in his lieutenant's sash, Cassio fends off the amorous advances of Bianca, and Rue's Emilia touchingly stoops to help Desdemona retrieve the scattered coins.
Rue's Emilia is a strongly played supporting character, and she pulls Desdemona's bed from behind the upstage curtains 4.3, removes the pins from Desdemona's long hair, and after the singing of "Willow," tenderly kisses her on the temple. Patrick Midgley's handsome but timid Roderigo is also well-evoked, taking absurd practice swings with his sword 5.1, but attacking Cassio so badly he is quickly overwhelmed and an easy target for Iago, who stabs him before slashing his throat. Warren draws out the 5.2 conclusion for maximum power, Lamberty's candle-lit Othello chilling as he stalks upstage in a t-shirt - "it is the cause" - while Desdemona sleeps in her white nightgown and nearby guitarists softly croon the melody from "Willow." He smiffs Desdemona then kisses her three times - "put out the light, then put out the light" - before taking her by the throat. She squeals and struggles, hitting his arms and clawing at his face, and after she stops fighting he checks her, and when she gasps, he continues to smother her with a pillow. Earl's Desdemona gets a final word - "a guiltless death I die" - as both Emilia and Othello slowly realize Iago's guilt. When Iago stabs his wife, she is laid beside Desdemona to die - "Moor, she was chaste!" - and Othello, who has fallen to his knees, stabs Blunt's Iago in the crotch with particular brutality. Both Lamberty and Blunt shine in their final moments, ending Warren's strong overall production: Lamberty's Othello stabs himself with a hidden knife then crawls to Desdemona's side - "to die on a kiss" - and Blunt's Iago is driven to his knees, but he only laughs heartily as Lodovico twists his beard to threaten him.