This summer, the Shakespeare Theater Company has brought Othello to the stage for its annual “Free For All,” a decades-old Washington, D.C., tradition that offers a Shakespeare classic to the public free of charge. And, no, it’s not like most other freebies. Unlike Costco samples, junk mail, and door-knocking missionaries, Free For All is always something to look forward to: It’s as professional and impressive a production as you could hope to see.
This year is no exception. Othello is the story of a general at the top of his career. He has defeated the Turkish army and married the beautiful and loving Desdemona. He is a hero to everyone, except his closest confidant, Iago, who secretly despises his commander. Iago is Shakespeare’s greatest villain, a two-faced spider so cunning that victims caught in his web tend to die praising his honest character. He reveals from the outset, “I am not what I am … I hate the Moor,” referring to Othello, an African Muslim. Iago steadily manipulates Othello, poisoning his mind with hatred and jealousy, transforming his commander from hero to villain.
Veteran director Ron Daniels, onetime artistic director of The Other Place Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, has set the play in the 19th century. Othello, costumed in high leather riding boots and a decorated green military jacket, is reminiscent of Patton or Rommel. Everyone looks like he or she has just stepped out of Casablanca. The effect is awesome, without being overdone. Daniels’ stage is a versatile, unassuming collection of oil barrels and industrial fans that makes great use of lighting and sound effects, especially during the thunderous slaughter of the Turkish navy. Othello is a play about deception and blindness, and the stage is a perfect space to dramatize things done in the dark.
Faran Tahir, starring as Othello, is an experienced film and television actor. His credits include 24, How to Get Away with Murder, Iron Man, and Star Trek. Jay Whittaker, on the other hand, who plays Iago with terrifying energy, is enough of a Shakespeare veteran that it may be simpler to list the titles he hasn’t performed. Rounding out the cast is Madeline Rogers, a total newcomer, who plays Desdemona as if this isn’t her first time on stage. You’ll be sorry to see her go.
On opening night, there were certain moments that didn’t come off just right, when the intended purpose or emotion of a scene failed to connect with the audience. Those moments were few and far between, but were costly in the climactic scene when Othello confronts Desdemona in the bedroom. Nothing could be more serious and tragic then when she asks her beloved husband, essentially, “Are you going to kill me?” and Othello, now a blind fool about to commit villainy, says, “Yes, presently.” But instead of gasping in horror, the audience laughed as if it were a punchline. This may be the fault of the actors, but it’s just as likely the nature of Free For All. When someone from the Shakespeare Theater Company asked the crowd “how many of you have never seen a Shakespeare play?” plenty of hands were raised. So if making Shakespeare accessible to the masses involves a few faux pas, well, so be it.
Otherwise, Othello was flawlessly performed. The audience had no trouble appreciating the play’s political timeliness. “Shakespeare is always timely,” high school English teachers will insist, but the crowd recognized something especially ironic in seeing a play about racial hatred and delusional leadership on stage, while reading about Charlottesville on their phones during intermission. “Othello starts as a man admired by all—and hated by some,” Ron Daniels explains. “His imagination becomes poisoned and distorted by Iago’s vicious racism and his subtle, hateful misogyny. And we watch the great man fall apart—even his language disintegrates—until he cannot recognize himself.” Othello is a powerful production that strikes uncomfortably close to home.
Othello plays at Sidney Harman Hall through Aug. 27.
