Welcome to Civil War style William Shakespeare.
Theater Works' new production of the classic 1603 tragedy “Othello,” traditionally set during the war between Venice and Turkey in the late 16th century, is set in the 1860s during the Civil War.
LaVour Addison, who played Othello, said, “That made it less likely to be removed.'' “When you think of “Othello,'' you think it's somewhere overseas, but having it in America, where it's based, makes it more moving and more realistic.''
The show opens Thursday and runs through May 19 at the Ent Center for the Arts.
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Turning a play on its head is no stranger to Chicago-based director Michael Burke, who is making his Theater Works debut. Prior to Othello, he directed an abbreviated version of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, set in the 1980s, and directed by John John, known for “The Sixteen Candles'' and “The Breakfast Club.'' It was a reference to the Hughes movie.
“I find it fascinating to throw him (Shakespeare) into the world we know and see what we discover,” Burke said.
In “Othello,” the title character is a black general who has recently married Desdemona. He appointed Cassio as his lieutenant instead of Iago, but to put it lightly, he doesn't get along well with Iago. The villain of the play manipulates Othello into believing that Othello's new wife and the new captain are having an intense affair, inflaming the general's furious jealousy and plotting Othello's downfall.
“What we share is that he's passionate, romantic, and a lover,” Addison said of her character. “He doesn't ask anyone to do something he wouldn't do himself. He's not a hypocrite, but he's also, in his words, a man who loved too well, not wisely.”
For Burke, working on this play meant trying to answer the question of why we are still so obsessed with this ancient work after all these years. Why is it still relative, current, and unresolved?
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For him, it was mainly for two reasons.
Director Burke asks, “What does this play tell us about masculinity and the relationship between male vulnerability and the male mind? It's also about how all of them are often victims of disaffected masculinity.”
And the second thing is race and racism and how that's incorporated into the story.
“I've always had a complicated relationship with this play, because my modern brain wants it to address, critique, and problematize racism. But… “This play doesn't do that,” he said.
Although Shakespeare's words remained the same, setting the story during the Civil War allowed him to unravel the story in a different way.
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“We're exploring the story within the context of the Confederacy, a world built on racism and fueled by racism,” Burke said. “This is not so much a play about racism as it is a play about racism.”
And the constant interest in the work also comes down to the common emotions we all share, but I hope we don't get carried away by them like Iago and Othello.
“This is a cautionary tale. This is primarily a play about very human, very flawed people who succumb to very human things that make life difficult,” Burke said. “Every day we all struggle with temptation, succumb to base feelings, and refuse to walk through the world with grace and potential. This play is about being careful about where you put your heart. It’s a prime example of what we stand to lose if we don’t.”
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