Of Moores, Damsels, and Villains

Yes, Othello, the Moore of Venice.

We saw a very well done Othello last weekend. We'd recently viewed Olivier's landmark performance, on film: in that production, he overshadowed all other players, even a very strong Iago. In the OSF production, the cast was much more balanced. It wasn't that Peter Macon (Othello) or Dan Donohue (Iago) were weak, though. Surely, Macon isn't of the stature of Olivier, but he didn't simply drown the rest of the company with his strength of personality.

If anything, Macon's descent into jealous insanity is more believable than Olivier's. Is it that Olivier seems more in command of the world and his sanity than Macon did, or that the transformation was ever-so-slightly less abrupt? Is it that we'd recently seen Olivier's, and so knew a bit more of what to expect (though I'd seen Othello several times before)? Uncertain.

Enjoyable? Hard to call something so tragic, even in theater, enjoyable. Fulfilling, certainly, and well worthy of the standing ovation received.