Shakespeare Theater’s 3-Hour Othello Recasts Iago as an Improviser in Wendell Pierce-Led Revival
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · May 31
Shakespeare Theater’s 3-Hour Othello Recasts Iago as an Improviser in Wendell Pierce-Led Revival
2 articles · Updated · The New York Times · May 31
Summary
Nearly three hours long, Shakespeare Theater Company’s “Othello” is reviewed as a revival that shifts attention from a master-planner Iago to a schemer repeatedly forced to improvise.
Ben Turner’s Iago anchors that approach: the production stresses chance, uncertainty and mixed motives rather than reducing the villain to a single psychological explanation.
Wendell Pierce plays Othello in Simon Godwin’s staging, set in a provisional modern military encampment with lawn chairs, milk crates and a battered television.
Jan. 6 echoes sharpen the contemporary frame, with Turner’s camo-clad, neck-tattooed Iago presented as a figure whose resentments and manipulations feel current.