RSS‘Othello’ a Rare Opportunity
Apr 25
Here’s how good University Theatre’s “Othello” is: The play is nearly three hours long — and you’ll be sorry when it’s over.
Don’t worry about Shakespeare’s English; the actors get it, so you will too.
Don’t worry about the modern — well, not really modern, more 1930s science fiction — costumes designed by Latricia Reichman. They’re interesting but not distracting.
Don’t worry about the staging, which at times seems more “Tempest” than tragedy. It’s beautiful, and it symbolizes goodness and light turning to sorrow and darkness.
Instead, focus on the acting, which is some of the best you’ll see anywhere, anytime.
Justin Cunningham, a senior drama major from Atkins, is heartbreaking as Othello. He’s (in this version) young, successful and madly in love with Desdemona (Molly Carroll). But, as director Michael Landman says, something makes him vulnerable to the suggestion that his wife is unfaithful. Maybe it’s being a Moor — black — in Venice. Maybe it’s because Desdemona is beautiful and the daughter of a senator, while he is merely a soldier. Maybe he simply has demons of his own.
But it takes virtually nothing for Iago — once his friend and perhaps more — to plant the seeds of doubt. And that doubt grows into tormented insanity that destroys everything he loves.
Ah, Iago.
Fayetteville’s own Jim Goza was last seen as the wide-eyed innocent in “Every Christmas Story Ever Told (And Then Some)” at TheatreSquared. There is no innocence in his Iago — only pain and fury and hatred, coupled with the talent of lying with a sincere smile on his face. The character is not unlike Kathryn in “Cruel Intentions.” You know Iago is evil, but it’s easy to cheer him on.
Innocent bystanders are, of course, caught up and suffer in Iago’s web of lies: Desdemona, who is truly sweet and faithful; Roderigo (Asa Tims), one of her suitors who becomes Iago’s pawn; Cassio (Justin Walker), who is promoted over Iago by Othello and thus sets the whole plot in motion; and Emilia (Rachel Culp), who is Iago’s wife but also Desdemona’s servant and confidante and pays the price for both. There isn’t a weak link in the chain, but special kudos to Culp, who brings Iago to justice with power and fury of her own.
There just aren’t enough compliments to heap on Goza and Cunningham — pages and pages of lines, duplicitous interaction that must be perfectly nuanced and a violent end that leaves them both out of breath. (They’ve been practicing stage combat all semester.) And that’s not to mention Goza’s magic — but you have to see that for yourself.
“It’s not a play about bad people,” director Michael Landman says. “It’s a play about trust and betrayal, about passionate love and being willing to be vulnerable in relationships.”
“This play is heart-wrenching and truly beautiful to look at,” Cunningham adds.
“If we do our job right as actors, directors and designers, every person in the audience should have a cathartic moment at the end,” Goza concludes. “Everyone in our audience has been hurt” just as Iago was.
FAQ
‘Othello’
WHEN — 8 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday
WHERE — University Theatre in the Fine Arts Building on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville
COST — $7-$16
INFO — 575-3946
