A picture in black and white: Shakespeare's Othello at Maynardville

Attending opening night last Saturday, suitably kitted out with the usual fleeces, cushions, blankies and choccie bars, we took up our seats on a pleasant evening. I have seen Othello performed only once before; also in the open air, in a grassed courtyard of Girton College, Cambridge a couple of decades back. At that performance the 'off duty' actors simply sat down in the front row among the audience to await their turn on stage (not that there was one). Maynardville is more structured with a proper stage, which brings us to the set, as often at Maynardville a simple one of a few stone pillars and braziers surrounded by trees, with little change when the play's action moves from Venice to Cyprus.

Now for the actors. Othello the play has only 12 characters. In this production two actors, Siya Sikawuti and Faniswa Yisa, take on two of the minor roles each, but it is the main characters who make (or break) the play. The eponymous Othello is acted by Muntu Ngabane. According to the programme he is the first South African actor to play the role at Maynardville. Something to do with apartheid? Ngubane definitely has the presence for the role. Imposing from his first entrance, he brings to the stage body and bearing befitting a general of the Venetian armies, but we struggled to understand him fully when he spoke. Not knowing the play word for word, was he saying 'because' or 'cause'? Notable then that the creative team includes a voice coach. More work required?

Iago, the villain of the play, is acted well by Marcel Meyer. No problem understanding his speeches and evil asides (when all the others then on stage go into a sort of 'freeze frame'). After all, he is also listed as the voice coach! The female parts are played by Mellissa Haiden as an attractive and convincing Desdemona, Othello's wife, while the more motherly Emila is acted by Nicole Holm. The other important characters are Cassio (Stephen Jubber) and Roderigo (Nicholas Dallas). The latter seems a difficult role to play as the actor has to inject some comedic moments into the tragedy.

Intriguingly, all but Othello and his spirit mother - what was that crazy headdress on Yisa's head about? - are dressed completely in soft white clothing, from boots to hats, belts and tunics. Even Iago's and Cassio's daggers are white. Othello, in striking contrast, is dressed mainly in black. His clothing is much more African in appearance, with a hide breastplate (later removed to show an enviable six pack) that looked very much like it was first worn by an Nguni cow. I imagine the play's director, (Fred Abrahamse) and the costume designer (the protean Marcel Meyer) wish to emphasise the contrast between the 'swarthy Moor' and the Venetian Europeans all in white. Emphasising this difference forms an important part of the play, but making the evil Iago dress so similarly to Cassio and Roderigo, who he conspires against and dupes, seemed a little odd to me.

The play, as one expects with a Shakespeare tragedy, ends with a clutch of deaths. Othello smothers his wife with a pillow in a convincingly disturbing scene. He then learns he has not been cuckolded as Iago has convinced him, and commits suicide over her body in remorse. The play then ends, but not after Iago gets suitably arrested.

Worth seeing if you are a Shakespeare fan, but hard to follow all the words, so maybe cram up on the plot before you go to sit among
the willows.

Full price tickets are R120, 160, R180. Weather enquiries one hour prior to performance phone +27 (0)79 742 0107. Learners and students are invited to attend on 26, 27, 28 January, 2, 3, 4, 9, 10 and 11 February at 7.45pm. Book at Computicket or Artscape-Dial-A-Seat +27 (0)21 421 7695.