Othello: The Green-Eyed Monster Goes Silent

Not 1, but 3 Iagos

As a rock n' roll keyboardist since 1966, I've practiced in a lot of basements in the past 45 years. However, until we moved to the DC area this summer, I had never witnessed the performance of a world class theater group in my basement.

Technically, I suppose, you could argue that the award-winning Synetic Theater is really in the Crystal City underground, not our basement.  But since all we have to do to see a show is head down 8 floors of our apartment complex on the elevator, walk through the below-ground connecting corridor of our complex to the Crystal City underground mall, continue 3 blocks underground to the theater, and enter the underground lobby, I am going to maintain that I can say it's my basement theater.

Tonight, we saw Synetic's version of Othello, the 2nd in the company's 3-part series Speak No More: The Silent Shakespeare Festival.

As I have explained earlier in this blog, Synetic, recognized as the nation's premier physical theater company, performs without words, instead relying on movement, music, mime, and visuals to convey both story line and emotional impact.

As for Othello itself, Judy said she enjoyed  Macbeth more. While I agree that Macbeth may have been more impactful overall, I think Othello is far more difficult to perform without words, and, therefore, I give great credit to the company for tackling that more challenging production so well.

For any of my former AP English students reading this, my favorite scene was Synetic's interpretation of the big black ram tupping the lovely white ewe. And the production featured not 1, but 3, characters portraying aspects of villainous Iago's twisted psyche. For power, it would be hard to top the final scene, with a dead Desdemona suspended high above a stage filled with bloody carnage.

Tales, Tidbits, and Traveling Tips:
If you're going to be in the DC area, Othello will be performed until Nov. 6. Romeo and Juliet, the final production in the festival, will run from Nov. 25 until Dec. 23.