Performance history Othello

1 performance history

1.1 pre-20th century
1.2 20th century
1.3 21st century

performance history

poster 1884 american production starring thomas. w. keene.


pre-20th century

othello possesses unusually detailed performance record. first known performance occurred on 1 november 1604, @ whitehall palace in london, being mentioned in revels account on hallamas day, being first of nouembar , 1604, when kings maiesties plaiers performed play in banketinge house @ whit hall called moor of venis. play there attributed shaxberd . subsequent performances took place on monday, 30 april 1610 @ globe theatre, , @ oxford in september 1610. on 22 november 1629, , on 6 may 1635, played @ blackfriars theatre. othello 1 of twenty plays performed king s men during winter of 1612, in celebration of wedding of princess elizabeth , frederick v, elector palatine.

at start of restoration era, on 11 october 1660, samuel pepys saw play @ cockpit theatre. nicholas burt played lead, charles hart cassio; walter clun won fame iago. after, on 8 december 1660, thomas killigrew s new king s company acted play @ vere street theatre, margaret hughes desdemona – first time professional actress appeared on public stage in england.

it may 1 index of play s power othello 1 of few shakespearean plays never adapted , changed during restoration , eighteenth century.

as shakespeare regained popularity among nineteenth-century french romantics, poet, playwright, , novelist alfred de vigny created french translation of othello, titled le more de venise, premiered @ comédie-française on 24 october 1829.

famous nineteenth-century othellos included ira aldridge, edmund kean, edwin forrest, , tommaso salvini, , outstanding iagos edwin booth , henry irving.

20th century

photographic portrait of paul robeson othello carl van vechten.

the notable american production may margaret webster s 1943 staging starring paul robeson othello , josé ferrer iago. production first ever in america feature black actor playing othello otherwise all-white cast (there had been all-black productions of play before). ran 296 performances, twice long other shakespearean play ever produced on broadway. although never filmed, first lengthy performance of shakespeare play released on records, first on multi-record 78 rpm set , on 3-lp one. robeson had first played role in london in 1931 in cast included peggy ashcroft desdemona , ralph richardson roderigo, , return in 1959 @ stratford on avon co-stars mary ure, sam wanamaker , vanessa redgrave. critics had mixed reactions flashy 1959 production included mid-western accents , rock-and roll drumbeats gave robeson reviews. w. a. darlington of daily telegraph ranked robeson s othello best had ever seen while daily express, had years before published consistently scathing articles robeson leftist views, praised strong , stately performance (though in turn suggested triumph of presence not acting ).

actors have alternated roles of iago , othello in productions stir audience interest since nineteenth century. 2 of notable examples of role swap william charles macready , samuel phelps @ drury lane (1837) , richard burton , john neville @ old vic (1955). when edwin booth s tour of england in 1880 not attended, henry irving invited booth alternate roles of othello , iago him in london. stunt renewed interest in booth s tour. james o neill alternated roles of othello , iago booth.

the american actor william marshall performed title role in @ least 6 productions. othello called harold hobson of london sunday times best othello of our time, continuing: ...nobler tearle, more martial gielgud, more poetic valk. first entry, slender , magnificently tall, framed in high byzantine arch, clad in white samite, mystic, wonderful, figure of arabian romance , grace, last plunging of knife stomach, mr marshall rode without faltering play s enormous rhetoric, , @ end house rose him. marshall played othello in jazz musical version, catch soul, jerry lee lewis iago, in los angeles in 1968. othello captured on record in 1964 jay robinson iago , on video in 1981 ron moody iago. 1982 broadway staging starred james earl jones othello , christopher plummer iago, became actor receive tony award nomination performance in play.

the 1943 run of othello, starring paul robeson , uta hagen, holds record performances of shakespeare play ever produced on broadway.

when laurence olivier gave acclaimed performance of othello @ royal national theatre in 1964, had developed case of stage fright profound when alone onstage, frank finlay (who playing iago) have stand offstage olivier see him settle nerves. performance recorded complete on lp, , filmed popular demand in 1965 (according biography of olivier, tickets stage production notoriously hard get). film version still holds record oscar nominations acting ever given shakespeare film – olivier, finlay, maggie smith (as desdemona) , joyce redman (as emilia, iago s wife) nominated academy awards. olivier among last white actors acclaimed othello, although role continued played such performers donald sinden @ royal shakespeare company in 1979–1980, paul scofield @ royal national theatre in 1980, anthony hopkins in bbc television shakespeare production (1981), , michael gambon in stage production @ scarborough directed alan ayckbourn in 1990. gambon had been in olivier s earlier production. in interview gambon commented wasn t second gentleman in that. didn t have lines @ all. @ that, standing hour. [it s] used – had metal helmet, had earplug, , used listen archers. no 1 knew. line used listen archers. , went , played othello myself @ birmingham rep 27. olivier sent me telegram on first night. said, copy me. said, used do. olivier used lower voice othello did mine. used paint big negro lips on. couldn t today, d shot. had complete negro face. , hips. did that. copied him exactly. except had pony tail. played him arab. stuck pony tail on bell on end of it. thought nice. every time moved hair went wild. british blacking-up othello ended gambon in 1990, royal shakespeare company didn t run play @ on main stratford stage until 1999, when ray fearon became first black british actor take part, first black man play othello rsc since robeson.

in 1997, patrick stewart took role of othello shakespeare theatre company (washington, d.c.) in race-bending performance, in photo negative production of white othello otherwise all-black cast. stewart had wanted play title role since age of 14, , director jude kelly inverted play othello became comment on white man entering black society. interpretation of role broadening, theatre companies casting othello woman or inverting gender of whole cast explore gender questions in shakespeare s text. companies have chosen share role between several actors during performance.

canadian playwright ann-marie macdonald s 1988 award-winning play goodnight desdemona (good morning juliet) revision of othello , romeo , juliet in academic deciphers cryptic manuscript believes original source tragedies, , transported plays themselves.

21st century

othello opened @ donmar warehouse in london on 4 december 2007, directed michael grandage, chiwetel ejiofor othello, ewan mcgregor iago, tom hiddleston cassio, kelly reilly desdemona , michelle fairley emillia. ejiofor, hiddleston , fairley received nominations laurence olivier awards, ejiofor winning. stand-up comedian lenny henry played othello in 2009 produced northern broadsides in collaboration west yorkshire playhouse. in march 2016 historian onyeka produced play entitled young othello, fictional take on othello’s young life before events of shakespeare’s play. in june 2016, baritone , actor david serero played title role in moroccan adaptation featuring judeo-arabic songs , verdi s opera version in new york. in 2017, ben naylor directed play pop-up globe in auckland , māori actor te kohe tuhaka in title role, jasmine blackborow desdemona , haakon smestad iago. production transferred melbourne, australia maori actor, regan taylor, taking on title role.

in september 2013, tamil adaptation entitled othello, fall of warrior directed , produced in singapore subramanian ganesh.