“CBC’s adaptation of Othello, The Tragedy of the Moor, is handsome, intelligent and — inevitably — limited. Some of the limitations are literal; a lot of the Shakespearean text is gone, including nearly all the long speeches,” writes Robert Cushman of “The National Post.” As Cushman explains, the cuts effectively change the nature of the play: “Even Othello’s sacrificial approach to the killing of Desdemona (”it is the cause”) is abbreviated. What gets lost in all this is the sacramental aspect of the play and the character: The key reason for his actions seeming not credible but also blasphemously misguided. Which is strange in a way, because this production implies a religious conflict that isn’t there in the original. Though many of the play’s words have been cut, only one has been changed: The derogatory “thicklips” becomes “Muslim.” This Moor of Venice is ethnically correct as he isn’t in Shakespeare, to whom “moor” just seems to have meant “black.”
Despite his reservations about the production, Cushman finds much to like in the changing of Othello’s race. He writes, “After decades of being told that only black actors can play Othello (the truth is that few actors of any race can play him) it’s piquant as well as impressive to see him played by the racially inscrutable [Carlo] Rota: British-born and accented, Canadian-based and currently best known for Little Mosque on the Prairie. Rota usually projects a humorous self-awareness that should be all wrong for Othello, but turns out to be all right. He establishes authority without effort (”put up your bright swords”) and seems very sure both of himself and of his love.” Read the complete National Post review
Kate Taylor isn’t quite so kind in her review for “The Globe and Mail.” She writes, “This acceptable but uninspired production of Othello: The Tragedy of the Moor, directed by Zaib Shaikh, is not good enough: It communicates no particular explanation for its own existence.” Nor is she impressed with Carlo Rota’s Othello, saying, “Rota…tends to be a mannered, even hammy actor in the first place. In the early scenes, he is charming and authoritative, the kind of suave and macho guy many a Desdemona could love. But once we move into the territory of thunderous looks and emphatic hand gestures, this is one of those Othellos who is as likely to move an audience to giggles as to tears.” In a final blow, Taylor concludes that director Zaib Shaikh, lacking a vision for his production, under-utilizes his medium. She explains, “Only once, when he films an imaginary sex scene between Cassio and Desdemona to represent Othello’s worst fears, does Shaikh use his medium to do things one would be unlikely to see in a staged version.” Read the complete Globe and Mail review
“Othello, The Tragedy of the Moor” airs on CBC Television tonight, Sunday, June 15 at 9 p.m.
Web Resources:
Globe and Mail interview with Carlo Rota about playing Othello
