Othello Directors' Note
From the Directors
As Americans, our stories are our birthrights. No other nation has ever devised nor enjoyed as many myths as America has. The greatest and most resilient one of all is the origin myth—the idea that this country was not just another stage in the long chronicle of civilization but an actual beginning, the seed of something the world had never seen before. Equality is the idealist notion that drives this creation story. The forefathers claimed for their fellow countrymen something that has not hitherto been achieved: absolute liberty and equality for all Americans.
This, perhaps, is the American tragedy: the persistent anxiety in failing to fulfill the myths. Author Shelby Foote wrote that “the Civil War defined us as what we are and it opened us to what we became: good and bad things. It was the crossroads of our being, and it was a hell of a crossroads.” This is precisely the junction where our Othello takes place. You will immediately notice, then, exactly how American the story really is. Othello has clearly battled against the most tremendous adversity to arrive at his position as General in the U.S. Army. He is thus the paragon of the American self-made man. And yet his downfall becomes inevitable when he is forced to reckon with his own nature. Iago tells nothing of his own motives, but accurately demonstrates how he has revealed the wickedness in the hero. Othello, symbol of American achievement, perishes in the face of his own inherent evil. At least, this is how Iago would have us believe it.
In viewing the performance through this lens, we ask you then not to dwell on references to Mediterranean locales or medieval military procedures. Please enjoy instead the gripping moments when the American-ness of the story is hauntingly apparent: Brabantio’s willingness to indulge in Othello’s exoticism despite his morbid fear of its effects on his daughter, Cassio’s intellectual expertise promoted over Iago’s raw experience (recall the 2008 presidential election), and Iago’s Northern, Union soldier hypocritically vowing friendship and loyalty to the black Othello.
Devin and I believe in theatre’s power to entertain and to move. This production will do both, especially in its proximity to our society and our cherished myths. While the enormity of tragedy compels Gratiano to curse the “better angel” to damnation, perhaps we may instead follow the words of President Lincoln, who asked only that we be touched, as surely we will be, by “the better angels of our nature.”
Stephen Iwanski Director, President, Not-So-Royal Shakespeare Co.
As Americans, our stories are our birthrights. No other nation has ever devised nor enjoyed as many myths as America has. The greatest and most resilient one of all is the origin myth—the idea that this country was not just another stage in the long chronicle of civilization but an actual beginning, the seed of something the world had never seen before. Equality is the idealist notion that drives this creation story. The forefathers claimed for their fellow countrymen something that has not hitherto been achieved: absolute liberty and equality for all Americans.
This, perhaps, is the American tragedy: the persistent anxiety in failing to fulfill the myths. Author Shelby Foote wrote that “the Civil War defined us as what we are and it opened us to what we became: good and bad things. It was the crossroads of our being, and it was a hell of a crossroads.” This is precisely the junction where our Othello takes place. You will immediately notice, then, exactly how American the story really is. Othello has clearly battled against the most tremendous adversity to arrive at his position as General in the U.S. Army. He is thus the paragon of the American self-made man. And yet his downfall becomes inevitable when he is forced to reckon with his own nature. Iago tells nothing of his own motives, but accurately demonstrates how he has revealed the wickedness in the hero. Othello, symbol of American achievement, perishes in the face of his own inherent evil. At least, this is how Iago would have us believe it.
In viewing the performance through this lens, we ask you then not to dwell on references to Mediterranean locales or medieval military procedures. Please enjoy instead the gripping moments when the American-ness of the story is hauntingly apparent: Brabantio’s willingness to indulge in Othello’s exoticism despite his morbid fear of its effects on his daughter, Cassio’s intellectual expertise promoted over Iago’s raw experience (recall the 2008 presidential election), and Iago’s Northern, Union soldier hypocritically vowing friendship and loyalty to the black Othello.
Devin and I believe in theatre’s power to entertain and to move. This production will do both, especially in its proximity to our society and our cherished myths. While the enormity of tragedy compels Gratiano to curse the “better angel” to damnation, perhaps we may instead follow the words of President Lincoln, who asked only that we be touched, as surely we will be, by “the better angels of our nature.”
Stephen Iwanski Director, President, Not-So-Royal Shakespeare Co.