The Halcyonite

By Ezra

’25

“Farewell the tranquil mind”.

This quote from Shakespeare’s Othello nicely sums up my experience of watching Clint Dyer’s reimagining of the play at The National Theatre. I recall that the most captivating part throughout the play was the number of phone screens I saw coming from similarly bored fellow audience members.

And I can’t blame those blasè spectators. I love this play: Iago’s evilness is the most chillingly influential to ever touch the stage, and Othello’s descent the most relatable. And yet the director gave these characters no justice. It’s shameful, this massacre of a play by William Shakespeare, the dominant playwright of many a century.

Dyer’s production opens with what could only be described as a poorly choreographed dance; Giles Terera (Othello), brandishing a short stick, runs around and swings it at the air, whilst actors dressed in black enter the stage and start cheering. Then they start booing and Othello lies down, clearly distressed.

Reading this back, I will be astounded if anyone can read through it, and understand what I’m talking about. I promise, it’s just as confusing to watch live. I asked a few of my peers how they interpreted Othello’s dance. Somebody told me they thought it was a fight, because Othello had just been to war before the play took place. This could be correct, but when the audience entered the theater at the start, while the lights were still on, a man with a mop was cleaning up a spill of blood on the ground. I took this to mean that they were cleaning up after the war, meaning it was over.

Another rendering of the opener’s meaning was that it was to symbolize how easily Othello is affected by others around him. He is shown as a strong warrior, jumping around on a flat stage swinging a blunt stick at nobody. And then people boo him, and then he lies down and cries. This could be translated to be a demonstration of just how easily Othello falls to tears under the adverse reactions of those around him.

What.

I assumed almost from the beginning that the director’s goal was to make the play simplistic in everything aside from the acting. The stage, the props, the costumes: all very unassuming, very bare.

The stage had 3 parts. A proscenium arch, the set began as large, blocky steps behind, and to the sides of the actors. To symbolize the castle in Cyprus, two large metal rectangles descended from the ceiling, and came to a rest hanging just a few feet above the top of the steps in the back. Illuminated with led lights coming from the inside of the rectangles, actors would stand between the two, showing that they were inside the castle. The third and final phase of the stage was another, far larger metal rectangle, this time supported from all 4 corners. It descended from the ceiling, with a small gray trapezoid hanging slightly below, and in the middle of it. This stage was used once for the majority of the final act. No context was given as to what it meant. The trapezoid was just… there. And, needless to say, the large metal rectangle suspended a good 15 feet above the ground didn’t add anything either.

The stage was also supported by a single ascending platform that rose from the center stage; it had a volume of what looked to be around 5×5 ft. The platform was used twice, once when the platform rose to a height of around two feet for Othello to cry upon as people jeered at him in the opening. And in the last act, the platform rose one foot for Desdemona and Amelia to die on.

Riveting.

I have nothing against simplicity, especially in theater, where it can be powerful. The general idea is that it puts all focus on the skill of the actors, rather than the set or the props. But glowing, floating rectangles do little to appease my mind. And even then, considering the cast of this particular play, there was little to study otherwise. If I had a choice over the set of this production, I would have attempted at improving the audience clarity in regards to the setting and scenery surrounding the characters. In practice this would entail the inclusion of more set pieces such as those so simple as a chair or a bed, to exhibit where exactly the characters were.

The steps on their own were quite promising as a stage – steps, after all, can be utilized in thousands of ways as a set, but the director chose to use them in a rather unorthodox way. Dyer placed cast members, dressed in black, who would hold torches, shake their hands, and flap their arms, sitting symmetrically on the steps. Were they to add drama? Suspense? I don’t know, but I do know that while Iago delivered a soliloquy explaining just how evil he is, and those cast members flapped their arms while the sound of rustling leaves played, the audience laughed.

Humor isn’t bad, but during an explanation of the plan and thoughts of one of the best villains ever written, humor should not be present.

The costumes worn by all the cast members were once again, minimalistic, they all wore black, and the only real distinguishing factor between costumes were the physical designs. A few of the actors’ clothes stood out (Desdemona and Emilia’s dresses, Iago’s suspenders and hat), but little else.

I’m not against the simplicity of the costumes, in fact I rather liked it, but I am against the utter lack of the color green, or anything that slightly distinguished characters of different classes. The Duke’s clothing was alarmingly similar to soldiers. And the color green seems almost necessary, “O beware, my lord, of jealousy;/It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on.”

Jealousy is what Iago uses to bring Othello down, it’s the driving force of the story, and Shakespeare pays tribute to it in the famous quote of the “green eyed monster”, and yet, there’s not one speck of green throughout the play. Admittedly, I am nitpicking, the color green is not required, but a little symbolism to represent Othello’s descent into madness, or anything that showed the power shift between the status of the antagonist and protagonist would have been appreciated.

Moving on the props we, shockingly, see utter simplicity once again. There were three different props used, a stick for othello to wave around, a few torches, and 4 daggers. Othello’s stick that he waved around in the beginning, and later held for a few seconds while talking to Iago. There were some realistic torches with smoke machines, which were visible in the shadows, a nice touch. And finally he had four daggers. Othello had a knife, one of the Duke’s men had a knife, and Cassio had a knife.  What annoys me is the total inaccuracy of the historical relevance. The knives are ceremonial, and I have my doubts that Cassio of all people, a soldier in Cyprus, during a time of war, would have a ceremonial blade, rather than a real sword. The Duke’s man I can understand, and I suppose you could get away with Othello, but Cassio? 

The final knife belonged to Roderigo, and the first time I saw it I thought the actor had picked up some rock and was stabbing it at Othello. I’m nitpicking, I know, but it looked like a curved piece of cement.

On the topic of Roderigo, I would like to state that he was poorly introduced, but to be honest he wasn’t introduced at all. Unless the audience knew the play, they would have no way of knowing his motivation for hating Othello until somewhere in Act 4. We don’t know what type of person in society he is, we know nothing.

Othello showed no emotions other than what was most obvious, Iago was overacted, and Desdemona was just boring. It really is shameful.

The play was long, boring and frankly painful to watch, and I would be hard pressed to recommend this play to anyone with any sight meager of taste, lest I risk their friendship.