 | Othello |  |
"Damn her, lewd minx! O, damn her!
Come, go with me apart; I will withdraw.
To furnish me with some swift means of death
For the fair devil. Now art thou my lieutenant. Othello
I am your own for ever. Iago " Act III, scene iii
Written: 1604
Ankara Devlet Opera ve Balesi ; November 16, 2005 Ankara, Turkey
Starring :
Reviewed on : 2005-12-03 07:20:43 ; Reviewed by : Antonia Mandry
| Operatic Shakespeare occupies a special part in the performance history of the Bard's works. It is already an adaptation of sorts, the words become lyrics, the pathos becomes music. Further, to see the operatic Otello in Ankara performed in a foreign country in a foreign language not native to Turkey inherently becomes a fascinating thrice-removed thrice-interpreted production. Sitting in Ankara listening to an Italian translation of an English play was an absolutely fascinating and colourful experience.
Colourful in that the scenery was gorgeously sumptuous. Tones of traditional production designed overlay the set accompanied with a unique marriage of shapes and colours. The centrepiece was an arched semicircle jutting out of the stage in the manner of the rising sun. At turns blue, grey and purple, it was covered in a decorative design of figures interwoven. In front, stood movable arching staircases that mimicked the main arch. The colours of the set were purple, dark red, muted purple and sandstone combined to make a sumptuous, passionate and forbidding palette. The costumes were designed along the same principles utilizing the same colour scheme but sticking more closely to traditional design. Trimmed-down Elizbethan dresses and suits matched colors with the set.
As a composer and Shakespeare-afficianado, Verdi's approach to the music was to depart from musical conventions of the time (or so at least the New York Times claimed in its review of the premiere in 1887). The libretto, by Arrigo Boito, made some significant adaptations; for example, cutting the entire first act of the play from the opera, dramatising other scenes by departing from the text and adding others.
Bujor Hoinic conducted tonight's performance with dash and daring. A permanent guest in this country, Hoinic knows how to conduct an orchestra like Perlman knows how to play a violin. This, despite a rather unruly group of student opera-goers in the back who acted more like the Italian opera audience of the early 19th century than a modern one in awe of the grandeur of opera.
The Otello, Hakan Aysev, was a pleasingly plump and sweet-sounding tenor. His Otello was neither ridiculous nor menacing and to watch his voice and emotions follow the curve of his destruction was fascinating. He was by far the most interesting Otello I have seen in eons.
It is a shame, then, that the production itself (the set, the costume, and the physical location) was more memorable in the end than the performances. The lingering memory is not of his Iago or her Desdemona, but overwhelmingly just of the visuals themselves.
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Sir John Gilbert, R.A.,
Othello and Iago
Reviews
|  | Schauspiel Frankfurt
April 17, 2009 |  | Northern Broadsides
March 11, 2009 |  | Royal Shakespeare Company at the Warwick Arts Centre
February 6, 2009 |  | Théâtre de l'Odéon
November 14, 2008 |  | Metropolitan Opera
February 22, 2008 |  | Chicago Shakespeare Theatre
February 13, 2008 |  | Stratford Festival of Canada
August 4, 2007 |  | Boston Theatre Works in BCA Plaza Theatre
March 2006 |  | Ankara Devlet Opera ve Balesi
November 16, 2005 |  | Oyun Atölyesi
March 14, 2005 |  | Lions Gate Films
2004 |  | Lyric Opera of Chicago
2002 |  | Masterpiece Theatre
2002 |  | Tim Blake Nelson
2001 |  | Royal Shakespeare Company
January 6, 2000 |
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