othello

Attended opening night for the GreenStage Shakespeare in the Park summer production of Othello.  Now in its 25th season, Othello marks a "tremendous achievement" for this highly spirited theatrical troupe, making GreenStage one of the few theatre companies in the world to "present the complete canon of plays attributed, all or in part, to William Shakespeare."  

Photo above, via GreenStage, Othello and Desdemona shown in love with one another, while Iago lurks menacingly in the background.

This summer, the company is also putting on Love's Labour's Lost, The Comedy of Errors, and All's Well That Ends Well throughout the lovely, outdoors Puget Sound area.  If you're around, you must see a show (or all of them) one midsummer night's eve (or afternoon).  This is a "happening," so bring a picnic basket, the camping chairs, the extra sweater for the temperature drop, the blankets - to spread out on the greenery to enjoy and appreciate William's work in a way (I fully intuit) William would have fully approved.

Going to these shows is as much an experience in Shakespeare as it is in the process of artistic creation - the actors will involve you - and the audience does too - as Seattleites can be a participatory, responsive crowd - evoking a bawdy, irreverent spirit that must have similarly prevailed during Elizabethan times, and which seems to be the intent of this welcoming, inclusive troupe.  (Though, for this significant Othello opening, Seattleites did seem unusually subdued.)  Otherwise, people may cheer, stomp, call back to actors, laugh or intently scowl during the ongoing scenes.  You mingle with performers putting on their costumes and make-up before the show.  I myself washed my hands with one member at adjoining toilet sinks in the public restrooms they most democratically share with the audience before and during.  Necessity is the Mother of Invention, we are told.  These guys want you to know that you are part of the production, and it works.

You know, I love the park time, too, right before the show begins:  the outdoor air of anticipation, the low appreciative murmur of conversation about the lawn .. lovers lie entangled on their blankets in the dipping sunlight, one or another person reads a program guide, a woman in a lovely white summer dress applies a wedge of red lipstick before daintily arranging her flounce on a small carpet and then, places grapes, one by one, in her mouth.  Another hops cross-legged in camping gear onto a towel, pulls out her Iphone and checks last minute emails before .. turning it off.  Chardonnays sit in buckets of ice, one fellow takes a quick picture for a group, adults of assorted ages and attire hungrily lean over dinner plates passed out, children roll wide-eyed chewing summer picnic fruit, shoes kick off feet, beach chairs fold backwards, chocolate bar concessionaires call out ... then .. more magic ..  we fully hop the rabbit hole ...  the troupe leaps light-footed like antelope across the greenery -- but wait -- it's the movies - there's a preview of coming attractions  .. then ... more actors stride on stage .. the play in question begins.

Yeah, Shakespeare meant this for everyone.

Staged with tasteful, even conceptualist artistry, arranged against the backdrop of green parks and urban landscapes, actors suddenly appearing from the audience, sound effects carefully planned (it is clear) from one location to the other - again - you can be drawn in, so much so, that, as the play opens, I am ready to say something back to Othello when he commands someone to turn off that blasted bell.

Hey, I was already in a heightened state of revery, General, I was at the Henry there, for a moment.  (Maybe with James T. in the Arizona light.)  What do you mean, turn it off?

But that was the last word I got on the subject.

Othello, himself, played by Johnny Patchamatla with (what I found to be) much humility and respect for this towering stage character - takes us into Shakespeare's story of an otherwise admirable man's step-by-step descent into jealousy and paranoia, and ultimately, the destruction of his relationship with his beloved and beautiful wife - Desdemona - and all, at the hands of arch villain Iago, played despicably well by Martyn G. Krouse.  (I mean, to be honest, I really didn't like the guy, as he kept telling us - the audience - how he felt... )

Photo above, courtesy of GreenStage, Iago messes with Othello's head.

Really, modern audiences get it all in this Seattle production, grappling with racism, sexism and misogyny, spousal abuse, psychological intrigue and deceit, (what might be called) Elizabethan office politics, unabashed lewdness, raucous humor, philosophical alpinism, and finally, tragic acts of brutality and murder, personal reconciliations as to the truths about people the characters know or thought they knew and loved (if they're still alive to do so).  This Othello will leave you with further insight into the Galileo-like aspects of William himself, who must have been a deeply observant 16th century man, way ahead of his times, and truly a Renaissance type of human.

The Elizabethans, too, had a lot more going on than we might think, William reminds us.  The women, for one, are very important in this play.  Only three characters, they include the brave and loving Desdemona, played by Libby Barnard - who elopes against her father's wishes with "the Moor";  Ashley Flannegan Russell, a plucky and reflective Emilia, unhappily married - and the only one who seems to know the truth about "honest Iago," though not yet willing to face the truth as to how far this villain will actually go.  Emily Feliciano plays Bianca, Cassio's lover.

Well, that's just for starters.  More on the cast here.  Now go and see for yourself.  Directed by Teresa Thurman, performances are free, though donations are heartily welcomed, and  you can congratulate and chat with the actors mingling and passing the hats afterwards.  Please give something, if you can.  Free Shakespeare in the park is a wonderful experience, a life blood coursing through the veins of healthy urban environments.  Way to go, Seattleites.  Way to go, GreenStage.  Keep it up.

*Quotation via GreenStage program guide, via director Teresa Thurman.