Othello
Peter Pryor, Frank X and Mary McCool, along with a stellar supporting cast including Anthony Lawton and Brian McCann, bring Shakespeare’s Othello to the Lantern stage, now running through May 4th. Director Charles McMahon fashions a juicy, eventful, heartrending production. Three hours is a long running time by most standards, but Charles McMahon propels the action to its devastating close with breathtaking alacrity.
Othello the Moor is an extraordinary general: a potent leader who, in this production, can stop a man’s sword with a look. He basks in the glory of his military prestige and his passionate new marriage to Desdemona, who has turned her back on her father’s rage at the match. But the villainous Iago, smarting as his promotion is passed to handsome young Cassio, will use Cassio, along with Desdemona’s lovesick admirer Roderigo, to spin a searing web of desperate jealousy around his general.
The progression of "Othello" as we now know it is as inexorable as nightfall, but the Lantern’s seamlessly trimmed production of this classic tragedy is so fresh that you’ll be taken off guard by a lurch of dread as Iago, seeing Cassio and Desdemona, remarks, "I like not that." A uniformly strong cast plumbs the nuanced and rigorous poetry of the language - the lines will never leave you in the dark when Shakespeare is in the Lantern’s hands.
As Othello, Frank X is a heady, virile mix of triumph and fatal suspicion, with masterful command of the language. Pete Pryor’s guileful Iago is insidiously subtle. Pryor’s Iago doesn’t regret his poisonous efforts even under threat of torture: his determined silence, rendered almost eerie in the closing scene, unsettles the fierce satisfaction of Iago’s undoing. Mary McCool’s Desdemona is determined, sensuous and vulnerable in gold and silver high heels. Anthony Lawton as the sodden Roderigo is lends a poignant, helpless distress as he is alternately baffled and buoyed by Iago’s manipulations. The excellent ensemble also includes Seth Reichgott, Sarah Sanford, and the handsome Luigi Sottile as Cassio, who can make Shakespeare sound like a night out with the boys.
The action inhabits a Spartan, nondescript set surrounded by the audience. With Charles McMahon’s direction, no step, bench, seat, pillar or doorway of Meghan Jones’ set is unvisited by the action. Costume Designer Millie Hiibel indulges in rich, velvety robes and jackets and silky dresses. Desdemona trails fabric in her first scene that rivals every little girl’s princess fantasy. Janet Embree’s dusky, muted lighting design, with stubborn verisimilitude, shrouds nighttime scenes in semi-darkness. Nick Rye’s enveloping music and sound design adds primal thrill. Another standout element of the production is J. Alex Cordaro’s brilliantly choreographed fights, integral to the drama of "Othello" and some of the best stage combat you’ll see in an intimate space.
Shakespeare’s "Othello" at the Lantern Theater Company has been extended until May 4th.
The Lantern Theater Company
10th and Ludlow
March 28-May 4
$15-$35
215-829-0395
www.lanterntheater.org
