Wednesday, October 9

Tag: Martins Imhangbe

Othello – Riverside Studios
London

Othello – Riverside Studios

The features which set this production of Othello apart are its length, only 100 minutes without an interval, and the casting of three actors to play the villain Iago.  A full production of the Othello text would probably run to about three and a half hours although few productions are totally uncut.  So, cutting it down so severely inevitably means that a lot of the background and subtlety of Shakespeare's text is lost, although the main plotline was preserved and presented in Shakespeare's language. The casting of the three Iago's was the defining characteristic of this production.  The director Sinead Rushe, had apparently explored a similar methodology with Hamlet and says in an informative interview in the programme that this was intended to underline the conflict...
Dear Elizabeth – The Gate @ Theatro Technis
London

Dear Elizabeth – The Gate @ Theatro Technis

Dear Elizabeth (written by Sarah Ruhl) is an exploration of the deep yet complicated friendship between American poets Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell. Ruhl’s script is a vast selection of the letters the two wrote to each other over several decades, and each night a fresh pair of unprepared actors arrive to take on the roles of Bishop and Lowell, unaware of what they’ll be performing. This interesting if not risky concept means that each audience will have a somewhat different experience, and while the letters are funny and searingly honest there wasn’t enough there for me to make up for the lack of characterisation. I found it frustrating being offered a window into the lives of two fascinating people but not being able to dig deeper into their personalities and motivations. Tha...