Othello - Wilton's Music Hall

[Jan]

Just starting a thread - seeing it next week

[Deleted]

I was fairly impressed with it in Bristol. A production not entirely without flaws but nonetheless effective with some very strong performances.

[Jan]

Yes Tobacco Factory standard is usually good. I go to Bristol if they are doing a rarer play and see them in London if not on the rare occasions they transfer something. Wilton's I have a problem with though - more on that later.

[Deleted]

May 18, 2017 8:21:28 GMT Jan said:

Yes Tobacco Factory standard is usually good. I go to Bristol if they are doing a rarer play and see them in London if not on the rare occasions they transfer something. Wilton's I have a problem with though - more on that later.

Othello is a co-production with English Touring Theatre and is directed by Richard Twyman, the incoming artistic director of ETT. Hence, this tour to London, which has replaced the customary West Country tour by Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory.

[Jan]

May 18, 2017 8:34:07 GMT @honouredguest said:

May 18, 2017 8:21:28 GMT Jan said:

Yes Tobacco Factory standard is usually good. I go to Bristol if they are doing a rarer play and see them in London if not on the rare occasions they transfer something. Wilton's I have a problem with though - more on that later.

Othello is a co-production with English Touring Theatre and is directed by Richard Twyman, the incoming artistic director of ETT. Hence, this tour to London, which has replaced the customary West Country tour by Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory.

I see. But it played at the Tobacco Factory I think. Is Shakespeare @ Tobacco Factory still in existence ?

[Deleted]

It was indeed part of the Shakespeare @ Tobacco Factory season. It's unusual but not unheard of for there to be a different director, Polina Kalunina did Romeo and Juliet a couple of years back, and now that Andrew Hilton's moved on, who knows who'll be directing future productions. Could be the new AD, could be guest directors, could be anyone. They are moving the season from spring to autumn as of next year though, so we've got quite a long wait to find out.

[Deleted]

Yes, the annual two-play season is always co-produced by Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory (stf), which is still led by founding director Andrew Hilton, and Tobacco Factory Theatres, which is a producing and presenting venue.

This year, Andrew Hilton directed Tartuffe (and co-wrote the new version) and Richard Twyman directed Othello as a guest director and his company (ETT) co-produced the tour of Othello, after the Bristol run.

I recall reading an interview with Andrew Hilton where he said he din't generally plan to re-direct any Shakespeare plays he'd previously directed, but I could well have misremembered exactly what he said.

Even with guest directors, the stf productions all share a recognisable approach to performing the classical plays.

EDIT: I see that Baemax says that Andrew Hilton has now left. I wasn't aware of that, and he was still artistic director on 20 Feb 2017 when the plans for the autumn season, from 2018, were announced.

[Jan]

This is a basic production, not bad but not remarkable. Not many ideas from the director - the main one is making Othello explicitly Muslim - of course in Shakespeare's day the term Moor was used for North African Muslims and I've seen it done that way before (Ben Kingsley) - here the implications are not fully thought through so it is quite superficial and doesn't add much. The acting is mixed - I was not impressed by Othello. Mark Lockyear (Iago) is an interesting actor, his years at the RSC have left him with an irritating tendency to act out the lines in mime and I think he's slightly miscast here, but he has some good moments and he's the best on display - (Katy Stephens a bit wasted (and not that convincing) as Emilia)

3*

[Deleted]

Was it end-on at Wilton's? The Tobacco Factory Theatre is in the round with only about eight rows so maybe these productions have a different impact when they're toured?

[Jan]

May 23, 2017 6:31:28 GMT @honouredguest said:

Was it end-on at Wilton's? The Tobacco Factory Theatre is in the round with only about eight rows so maybe these productions have a different impact when they're toured?

They'd taken all the seats out and it was in the round in the auditorium area, the Wilton's stage was not used at all, as a result the configuration was very like the Tobacco Factory (but without those pillars blocking the view). The Circle still unused here, I don't know if it is even structurally sound yet. One problem is the ceiling in the auditorium is very high so the actors sound very echoey and fuzzy, like in a church.  

[martin1965]

May 23, 2017 5:38:57 GMT Jan said:

This is a basic production, not bad but not remarkable. Not many ideas from the director - the main one is making Othello explicitly Muslim - of course in Shakespeare's day the term Moor was used for North African Muslims and I've seen it done that way before (Ben Kingsley) - here the implications are not fully thought through so it is quite superficial and doesn't add much. The acting is mixed - I was not impressed by Othello. Mark Lockyear (Iago) is an interesting actor, his years at the RSC have left him with an irritating tendency to act out the lines in mime and I think he's slightly miscast here, but he has some good moments and he's the best on display - (Katy Stephens a bit wasted (and not that convincing) as Emilia)

3*

I saw the Kingsley production (my first ever RSC visit!), looked at this when i saw How to succeed last month but it seemed undercast or in the case of Katy Stephens overcast!

[Jan]

May 23, 2017 6:43:15 GMT martin1965 said:

May 23, 2017 5:38:57 GMT Jan said:

This is a basic production, not bad but not remarkable. Not many ideas from the director - the main one is making Othello explicitly Muslim - of course in Shakespeare's day the term Moor was used for North African Muslims and I've seen it done that way before (Ben Kingsley) - here the implications are not fully thought through so it is quite superficial and doesn't add much. The acting is mixed - I was not impressed by Othello. Mark Lockyear (Iago) is an interesting actor, his years at the RSC have left him with an irritating tendency to act out the lines in mime and I think he's slightly miscast here, but he has some good moments and he's the best on display - (Katy Stephens a bit wasted (and not that convincing) as Emilia)

3*

I saw the Kingsley production (my first ever RSC visit!), looked at this when i saw How to succeed last month but it seemed undercast or in the case of Katy Stephens overcast!

Othello is undercast - not the fault of the actor really as he is very inexperienced and it is a tricky part. The Ben Kingsley/David Suchet one was disappointing - I'd seen one production previously, an early sighting of a Michael Boyd production with Joseph Marcell before both became famous. 

[katy]

May 23, 2017 5:38:57 GMT Jan said:

This is a basic production, not bad but not remarkable. Not many ideas from the director - the main one is making Othello explicitly Muslim - of course in Shakespeare's day the term Moor was used for North African Muslims and I've seen it done that way before (Ben Kingsley) - here the implications are not fully thought through so it is quite superficial and doesn't add much. The acting is mixed - I was not impressed by Othello. Mark Lockyear (Iago) is an interesting actor, his years at the RSC have left him with an irritating tendency to act out the lines in mime and I think he's slightly miscast here, but he has some good moments and he's the best on display - (Katy Stephens a bit wasted (and not that convincing) as Emilia)

3*

Ah ha, Jan Brock.... we meet again.... god,this site is difficult to get onto...like Fort Knox ....of course your opinion is valid but I would just like to add that many members of the Wilton's audience are not jaded critics like ourselves, have never had the privilege to see many Othellos or visit the RSC. The audience at Wilton's is young and very diverse and for some of those young people it's incredibly exciting to see 'themselves' onstage. It was directed with this in mind. Not to achieve a better Othello than ever seen before but to just tell the simple, extraordinary story that it is. A very young, fresh Othello and Desdemona were cast with that in mind. It is our job as directors and actors to encourage a new, young and diverse audiences (for too long now the audience for Shakespeare has been too white and too middle class) and often the best way to do that is not to over-complicate. You use the word superficial, I would say simple. You also use the word 'wasted' and I would like to reassure you that I am deeply proud to be part of a production that is nurturing this new audience. With respect, yours, not-so-convincingly, Katy Stephens x

[Jan]

May 26, 2017 11:31:50 GMT katy said:

May 23, 2017 5:38:57 GMT Jan said:

This is a basic production, not bad but not remarkable. Not many ideas from the director - the main one is making Othello explicitly Muslim - of course in Shakespeare's day the term Moor was used for North African Muslims and I've seen it done that way before (Ben Kingsley) - here the implications are not fully thought through so it is quite superficial and doesn't add much. The acting is mixed - I was not impressed by Othello. Mark Lockyear (Iago) is an interesting actor, his years at the RSC have left him with an irritating tendency to act out the lines in mime and I think he's slightly miscast here, but he has some good moments and he's the best on display - (Katy Stephens a bit wasted (and not that convincing) as Emilia)

3*

Ah ha, Jan Brock.... we meet again.... god,this site is difficult to get onto...like Fort Knox ....of course your opinion is valid but I would just like to add that many members of the Wilton's audience are not jaded critics like ourselves, have never had the privilege to see many Othellos or visit the RSC. The audience at Wilton's is young and very diverse and for some of those young people it's incredibly exciting to see 'themselves' onstage. It was directed with this in mind. Not to achieve a better Othello than ever seen before but to just tell the simple, extraordinary story that it is. A very young, fresh Othello and Desdemona were cast with that in mind. It is our job as directors and actors to encourage a new, young and diverse audiences (for too long now the audience for Shakespeare has been too white and too middle class) and often the best way to do that is not to over-complicate. You use the word superficial, I would say simple. You also use the word 'wasted' and I would like to reassure you that I am deeply proud to be part of a production that is nurturing this new audience. With respect, yours, not-so-convincingly, Katy Stephens x

To be honest the audience looked no different to an audience you get at the Almeida or Arcola or Young Vic. Anyway, just by way of feedback from the audience I think probably one other thing you could have done to simplify and make it even more appealing to your target audience would have been to cut the run time to well under the current three hours, that is really long for a Shakespeare these days (Arcola R-III with a similar youthful target audience was about 2:45 which was about right even for me).

BTW. "As You Like It" @ Roundhouse = Very good.