KCST challenges Public’s eye with its ‘Othello’

King’s Crown Shakespeare Troupe is bringing the most famous black man whose name begins with ‘O’ to campus—no, not that famous black man. KCST presents “Othello” from Dec. 3 to 5 in Lerner Black Box.

Don’t get it confused with Peter Sellars’ recent production of “Othello” at The Public Theater, featuring Philip Seymour Hoffman as the villain Iago, which included a few changes from the original work. KCST’s “Othello,” directed by Mikhaela Mahoney, BC’11, and produced by Allie Lalonde, CC’10, sticks closer to the source material.

“It’s a challenge to put on a story that’s been performed eight million times,” Lalonde said. Veteran performers of Shakespeare like Tamara Geisler, CC ’10, who plays Bianca, can offer advice for understanding and performing the works of the Bard, which are known for the myriad of ways in which they could be interpreted.

“At first, the language can be a little daunting, but once you get used to the rhythm and the language, it’s not as hard as you once thought,” Geisler said. “Sometimes you just need to sit down with the dictionary and go through the text.”

Nonetheless, the payoff of analyzing the text seems worth the while. Geisler added, “If you come to expect certain things within his plays, you’ll be able to find the humor in what he’s saying.”

James Underwood, a student in GS who plays Iago, said, “With other plays you look at lines and build the character from there, but with Shakespeare, it’s much more textual. Everything needed is what’s on the page. It can be overwhelming so you have to choose what to take from it.”

While the KCST version of “Othello” may be vastly different from the Public’s production, the troupe by no means discredits its artistic merit and value. Of Sellar’s “Othello,” Lalonde said, “I’m not sure if we disliked or liked it, but it was definitely interesting.”

Underwood said, “Even though it [Sellars’ production] took out the element of race, there’s still so much more in the play that the show still worked.”

KCST now has the challenge to choose what and how they will be presenting the over 400-year-old drama. Instead of focusing solely on Othello’s distinction as a Moorish general in the Venetian army, the show will highlight the relationships between all of the characters.

“The most obvious difference is Othello’s race,” Underwood of the show’s characters. “But it’s like a red herring. The play is more than just about race.”

Geisler said that the performance “is trying to encompass the intimacy of ‘Othello,’ the closeness of the characters and story, and how it eventually becomes a larger issue.”

And by emphasizing the emotional connections of the characters, KCST’s “Othello” hopes to illustrate just how much modern audiences can relate to Shakespeare’s words.