Summary 
This hip-hop musical update of Othello, performed by a rapping all-male ensemble of four, is inventive entertainment presented in a small black box space. Surprisingly close to Shakespeare's tragedy in its clever characterizations and plotting, despite the looming naval war with the Turks replaced by the preparation for an impending concert tour. Desdemona is wisely portrayed only as an ethereal offstage singing voice, the characters onstage struck to their souls by the beautiful melodies, especially the rapt rapper MC Othello.
Design
Adapted, directed, and music by GQ and JQ. Developed with Rick Boynton. Scenic design and costume design by Scott Davis. Lighting design by Jesse Klug. Sound design by James Savage. Wig and makeup design by Melissa Veal.
Cast
Jackson Doran (Cassio/Emilia), GQ (Iago/Brabantio), JQ (Roderigo/Loco Vito/Bianca), Postell Pringle (Othello), with Clayton Stamper (DJ).
Analysis
The Q Brothers bring their hip-hop musical version of Othello home to Chicago after tours in 2012 of England, Germany and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland. DJ Clayton Stamper, elevated on a scaffold upstage left, stands above industrial packing trunks and amplifiers onstage, everything - including the walls - sprayed with graffiti. The DJ gives a throat-cut gesture after pantomiming speaking into a cell phone, and the production begins with an ominous opening song - "oh-oh, oh-oh, snap!" - played by a dancing cast of four in mechanics' coveralls, sneakers, baseball caps, and headsets. The mechanics are modern street Storytellers, narrating the "remix" of the Moor's tragedy in the context of MC Othello's domination of the modern music business, akin to Shakespeare's general Othello dominating the Venetian military. The Storytellers rap the story of Othello releasing underground mix tapes and becoming a legend, then breaking through "ten times plat." They praise Othello in colloquial terms - "he got a wicked jump shot" - and pound rhythm on a trunk with their fists, then charge the audience, exhorting the patrons to "throw your hands up" and dance along. Postell Pringle, an intense and intimidating MC Othello - "to the top, I'm never comin' down" - suddenly becomes awestruck, gazing offstage at the ethereal sound of Desdemona's voice. The singing continues as he pulls the gold chain from his neck to offer as a gift to the always-unseen Desdemona.
GQ plays the pivotal role of Iago as a snaky would-be opener, jealous not only of MC Othello's success and his romance with Desdemona, but also of Cassio being "promoted" to opening act. His memorable diatribe rap features a catchy refrain of "this is why I hate the Moor" while the others head-bob and strut behind him in jealousy-green baseball caps. GQ quickly doubles as Desdemona's stodgy father Brabantio, donning a gray wig and a neck muffler, lowering his register to that of an old-fashioned patriarch "stuck in the ways of a different generation."
GQ's brother JQ is exceptional in providing comic relief via a trio of quick-change roles. He plays the mouth-breathing nerd Roderigo - he "talksh like thish" - in black glasses and a multicolored ski cap, declaring his love for Desdemona - "for her I'd give up my Skeletor that's still in the box" - and receiving mock-encouragement from GQ's world-wise Iago: "you can impress her with your knowledge of trolls." JQ goes over the top in his portrayal of a bimbo Bianca, affecting a thick Latina accent, a low-cut party dress hanging from his neck, and a pink fright wig askew atop his head. She professes deep feelings for Cassio - "I heart choo" - and brags about him: "you're so cute, when they see you, they'll be all 'woot! woot!'" And the Venetian senator Lodovico - in the Q Brothers' remix the record label CEO Loco Vito - wears dark sunglasses and a bandana, hard at work coordinating a world tour for First Folio records. He reveals an odd propensity to reference professional tennis, like the logistics of the tour being as difficult "as beating Bjorn Borg in the seventies." Before he rushes off at the conclusion - "I've got to leave the country for undisclosed reasons" - he provides tennis-oriented asides upon the action: "poor sportsmanship, John McEnroe!" when Othello slaps Desdemona; "I feel like Federer when he lost it all" after Desdemona is found smothered; and finally, "it's like game, set, match!" when Othello commits suicide.
Jackson Doran - "Jax" on his mechanic's name tag - plays Cassio as a vain white-bread rapper with a fondness for scarlet clothing. His big number is "Cass Cass Cassio!" during which he teaches MC Othello dance moves to aid him in wooing Desdemona: Cassio's trademark "wiggle and slide" will be "bigger than the Chicken Dance." The Q Brothers act as backup dancers in blood-red lighting as Cassio and Othello slide-dance - enhanced by Stamper's spinning and some pre-recorded back-up singing - and the jittery Cassio is revealed to be addicted to caffeine. He pantomimes giving Desdemona a borderline-inappropriate foot massage - "a player gotta play!" - and Iago has Roderigo drug him with a snake-venom mimosa before a concert. The opportunity for fame is huge - "everyone'll get a bobble head in your likeness" - but Cassio embarrasses himself in a red psychedelic blur that Iago explains with finger air-quotes: "he 'over consumed.'" Jax also plays the oversexed Emilia, quickly donning a prim red-haired wig and dropping a dress from a loop over his neck. She implores Iago with none-too-subtle references, encouraging "a naked game of Twister" in which "I'll let you get to third base," and complaining, even after she has made him happy by stealing Desdemona's gold necklace: "clearly I'm not getting laid today, when I get your attention it fades away."
Pringle's Othello records a duet rap ballad - "a love like this" - featuring Desdemona's emotional crooning, and he boasts while dismissing Iago's insinuations: "this song is going to be nasty-O! - what, you're still worried about Cassio?" He is furious with Cassio's drugged-out non-performance - "we could have crossed over" and made "Eddie Murphy money" - and demotes the now hang-dog rapper: "you're out of the act!" The rapping rhymes continue to come fast and furious, almost always clever, only a few awkward - Iago's "you have to axe him" answered by Othello's "axe him what?" - and the energy is frantic, the story moving at a rapid pace. The Storytellers return to provide a comic recap for the audience, very helpful for those unfamiliar with the plot: "I think they fell" - as the storytellers spin around and slap their rear ends, "behind!"
GQ's Iago ("call me devil god") brings the production to a brief intermission, certainly not necessary for the audience but needed for the performers, who have been rapping and dancing at a breakneck clip for almost an hour - as he comes down to the stage from the back of the audience, evil in a spotlight. His work on Othello's psyche seems to be working - "it really upsets me; you're the only one who gets me" - and Iago's catchy song features a refrain of "call me puppet master, call me chameleon" as the other performers jerk around in a dance like puppets on strings. GQ continues with graphic insinuations - "like a bronco bucking, picture them …" - and he gives an odd Godzilla reference ("I'm like Rodin: a monster and a thinker") before his final words end the scene in an ominous and abrupt blackout: "his neck is gonna snap!"
The second act begins with Pringle's Othello beginning to succumb to anger and jealousy - "I need the real truth!" - and Iago making a point of his own loyalty and passion: "I'll drop that pop star singing his swan song." The bravado of Cassio is exaggerated to make him all the more unlikeable: he says of Bianca, "I never met a betty more ready for beddie," and thrusts his hips crudely, unaware that Othello is listening and thinking he speaks of the MC's wife. Another big song-and-dance number, this one played for vampy humor, defuses some of the violently angry tone. The cast of four faces the audience in wigs, their expressions and tone very serious, taking turns singing the lead of "it's a bitch world" as the others dance and rap back-up vocals behind. The drag-rap is an audience favorite, Emilia shouting "can I get a witness?" then "one more time," concluding to spontaneous applause. There are several more humorous moments before the dramatic conclusion, like the dweeby Roderigo threatening Iago - "I'm about to get non-vertical on your ass" - or Cassio dropping a Crocodile Dundee reference - "that's not a knife; THAT's a knife" - then of course worrying about his appearance when Iago slashes him across the face: "great, now I need new head shots."
But the final moments are this production's highlight, dark and introspective, chilling and effectively staged. Pringle's MC Othello stares down in silence at an amplifier in a spot light, representing his marriage bed with a brocade pillow at one end, the ethereal and invisible Desdemona in repose upon it. He reminisces about his relationship with her - "like a needle laying in the groove" - before singing the final song, with its refrain of "one more kiss" increasing in volume with each repetition. The others walk in a rapid circle around Othello, rapping an angry counterpoint: "you made your bed, now sleep in it!" with a murderous afterthought: "forever." The music and chanting stop when Pringle's Othello brings the pillow down to suffocate Desdemona, the ensemble falling to their backs, convulsing in the silence as if being suffocated themselves, kicking their legs to amplify the struggle of a wronged wife. They suddenly stop, and after a painful pause, rise and stomp their feet to represent the knocking of Emilia on the chamber door.
After Emilia's recounting of the story - as if devil-possessed, to her husband: "no, YOU shut up!" - she is stabbed by GQ's Iago, and the production delivers one last comic moment: Othello raps his lament, which includes "everyone on this story has one last -" completed by Emilia's triumphant "-word!" as she expires. Pringle's Othello delivers a powerful conclusion, gently giving Desdemona back her gold chain, bemoaning, "I robbed the world of the only thing I ever loved." When he removes his baseball cap and cocks his arm to punch it, it is a symbolic suicide - "Othello, don't do it!" - and when he falls the moment is poignant, the rest of the cast singing "I struggled with my destiny" as a refrain in the final melancholy song of a powerfully energetic and provocative production.