M J Johnson
  • Blog
  • Home
  • Books
    • Niedermayer & Hart >
      • Reviews for N & H
      • The Prologue
      • Sample the Book
      • Animations
    • Roadrage >
      • Reviews for Roadrage
      • Roadrage Sample
  • Contact Me

Othello - N T Live

2/10/2013

3 Comments

 
Picture
Last week we saw Othello in the NT Live Season at our local cinema. Quite incredible to think that when it was first performed during the reign of James 1, the number of bodies the theatre could physically hold (at a guess perhaps 500 - possibly 1000?) were all who could have experienced it. Last Thursday however, because of some incredible technology, it was broadcast right around the globe (no pun intended!) and played in just one evening to something like 100,000 souls.

It was good to see a large number of teenagers at the showing. I often wonder at NT Live performances why they are so badly attended by people under the age of thirty (at our cinema anyhow), especially as Drama is such a popular subject in schools. When I was a teenager I know that my friends and I would have sold our devoted Mums into slavery for the opportunity to see world-class theatre for little more than the price of a cinema seat (Oh, the callousness of youth!). Presumably the increased attendance last week was because the play is a text for some examwork? It certainly was when I was at school, I recall studying it for my A Levels. However, I didn't get an opportunity to actually see the play performed until last Thursday evening - so, for me, it was a first! And it was, I am pleased to say, definitely worth waiting for. The play's message rings out with crystal clarity across the four hundred years dividing us from Shakespeare's life and times. The writing is truly wondrous - sometimes it seems a bit unfair on the rest of us just how brilliant he was. My wife pointed out how many book/play titles and sayings we take for granted and are accepted as part of our English tongue, which have been simply lifted from 'the Bard'. He seems to understand and explain the human condition like no other playwright. Unfortunately, four hundred years hasn't seen much alter in the way of human nature. The play's themes of suspicion, jealousy and hate are sadly as relevant today as they were when the ink for Othello was still wet on the page.

The roles of Othello and Iago were superbly portrayed and brought to life in this excellent National Theatre production, directed by Nicholas Hytner, by Adrian Lester and Rory Kinnear respectively. The leading actors are supported by a very good cast,and the passage of time hasn't by any means diminished the play's power to shock and move us. It remains a thoroughly disturbing experience to watch a good man being fed lies, until his mind has been utterly poisoned against his faithful and adoring wife, culminating in the most appalling tragedy. The character of Iago has always intrigued me, in particular his lack of a really solid motive for his malevolence. At times during the play he soliloquises and gives us different reasons for his hatred of the Moor. Yet, they are never completely convincing: Cassio was preferred for a recent promotion over him; he says he has heard a rumour that Othello may have slept with his own wife, Emilia; at one time he tells us that he himself is besotted with Desdemona. However, these pronouncements lack much weight and conviction it seems to me: I suspect Iago's true motive is simply hate.

I put a quote from the final scene of Othello at the beginning of my novel Roadrage, a psychological thriller that is itself concerned with the corrosive power of hate and intolerance. I chose it too (without giving anything away) because my 'baddie' has quite a lot in common with Shakespeare's great malcontent. The words are as chilling today as they doubtless were when first spoken by an actor back in 1604:

Othello:
Will you, I pray, demand that demi-devil,
Why he hath thus ensnared my soul and body?

Iago:
Demand me nothing: What you know, you know:
From this time forth I never will speak word.


3 Comments
Lorinda J. Taylor link
2/10/2013 11:14:13 pm

This struck a chord! In my SF novel The Termite Queen, my giant intelligent termites are "Shakespearean" termites (I use a kind of play script with minimal stage directions to set their sections of the stories apart). And my villain Mo'gri'ta'tu is modeled a bit on Iago - his motivations are not totally clear either and are mostly founded on pure hatred. And I use that same quotation that you mention for the big climactic chapter in v.2 - it's appropriate because our hero rips off the villains antennae (the source of his evil words) in the course of putting an end to him.

Reply
Martin Johnson link
2/10/2013 11:44:31 pm

Othello is a wonderful play, and Iago is an intriguing character. He shows no remorse whatever for his actions and clearly has no intention of explaining the reasoning behind them. He doesn't seem to have any burning ambitions - he just seems to want to cause as much hurt as possible. I find him horribly fascinating.

Reply
Newspaper Advertising Agencies in Chennai link
18/10/2019 02:35:58 am

Newspaper Advertising Agencies - Get best rate on newspaper ads. We are best newspaper advertising agency in Chennai.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    Available in paperback and ebook:
    Amazon.co.uk
    Amazon.com
    Picture
    Available in paperback and ebook:
    Amazon.co.uk
    Amazon.com
    Picture
    Available in paperback and ebook:
    Amazon.co.uk
    ​Amazon.com
    my read shelf:
    M.J. Johnson's book recommendations, liked quotes, book clubs, book trivia, book lists (read shelf)

    M J Johnson

    You can join Martin on
    Facebook
    If you'd like to subscribe to this blog, click on the RSS Feed button below

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    Art
    Books
    Family Matters
    Film
    Historic/Factual
    Might Raise A Smile
    Miscellaneous
    Music
    Niedermayer & Hart
    Places Worth A Visit
    Roadrage
    Tea 'n' Coffee
    Theatre
    TV Stuff
    TV Stuff
    Wales
    Wilhelm & Laszlo
    Writing

    Archives

    April 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    June 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    October 2016
    September 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011

© 2018 M J Johnson. All rights reserved.
             Contact               Blog                 N & H                 Roadrage