Lara Foot’s Othello recently played at the Baxter. It is also on stage at this year’s Toyota Stellenbosch Woordfees. The play was discussed as part of the Advanced Text and Performance Analysis at the Drama Department of Stellenbosch University. A few students from Annel Pieterse’s class shared their reviews. Below is the review of Dhania Kara Schultz.
Othello’s tale has always been one of internal conflict and a search for identity for individuals of the African diaspora. Lara Foot recontextualises Shakespeare’s classic in a bold and ambitious retelling which highlights these themes in a depiction of the colonisation of South West Africa in the early 20th century.
In this production, Othello is a black general among the ranks of the German militia. As Germany invades South West Africa, and Othello returns to his ancestral soil, he faces conflict between his ambition and his heritage. He navigates the jealousy of his wife, Desdemona, whom he suspects of infidelity, and battles his feelings of inferiority and contradiction within his status as a black man who acts as oppressor and coloniser of his own people.
As the curtains open, an ominous atmosphere permeates the space as the audience is greeted with the sight of a map of Africa surrounded by German colonial forces. This striking image is the first of many throughout the production. The set fractures, pushing and pulling in sharp angles that mirror the militant forces, contrasted with powerful organic scenery as Othello reaches for his African heritage. The consistently engaging technical aspects keep the audience enraptured, despite brief moments of under- or overlighting, drawing the audience deep into the performance with a moving soundscape that bounces through the theatre.
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This multilayered representation of a timeline of colonisation and attempts at decolonisation make for a complex, nuanced production, subverting many of Shakespeare’s prevalent themes and bringing Othello firmly into the political landscape of the 21st century, despite its 1900s setting.
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Foot’s recontextualisation of Othello makes for a decolonial reading of Shakespeare’s classic. The audience is confronted with three distinct sociopolitical eras: the time of the English renaissance, in which Othello was written (circa 1603); the time of the colonisation of South West Africa, in which Foot’s production is set, in the early 20th century; and the contemporary reality of the audience – the time in which we all find ourselves. With racial genocide and ethnic cleansing a hot topic in the news, the contextualisation of Foot’s Othello is a brutal reminder that in all three of these distinct time periods, we continue to experience the same narratives. Foot’s Othello also makes extensive reference to Fanon’s Black skin, white mask, published in 2005. This not only draws very clear parallels between the period of the setting and our contemporary reality, but paints a stark image of the pervasive issues of racial identity which have always been present and continue to plague us. This multilayered representation of a timeline of colonisation and attempts at decolonisation make for a complex, nuanced production, subverting many of Shakespeare’s prevalent themes and bringing Othello firmly into the political landscape of the 21st century, despite its 1900s setting.
In order to cement these themes of political uncertainty and frame the text in the semiotic language of the South African landscape, Foot also adopts a multilinguistic approach to the Shakespearean text. Afrikaans replaces German early in the production as a symbol of the oppressor, while the use of Xhosa harkens to Othello’s African heritage as he navigates his split identity of oppressor and oppressed. The switches in language engage the audience, within Shakespeare’s otherwise somewhat alienating lexicon, and make for some powerful moments of communication between the characters on stage.
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The casting, then, borders on a perception of performative inclusivity as opposed to serving the story. This has a tendency to undermine the stakes of the production.
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Along with her multilinguistic approach, Foot cast the production with a multicultural vision. A few members of the cast deliver strong, memorable performances – notably Carlo Daniels as Michael Cassio, Wessel Pretorius as Roderigo, and Faniswa Yisa as Emilia. Yet, this cast, which is a strong representation of Mandela’s “rainbow nation”, seems to undermine Othello’s power and crucial character arcs which follow his strength as a black man in white spaces, Fanon’s concept of the intrinsic belief that the black man serves a role of inferiority within societal structures, and Othello’s insecurity and internal struggle as he attempts to understand his identity. The casting, then, borders on a perception of performative inclusivity as opposed to serving the story. This has a tendency to undermine the stakes of the production. This complex approach almost pushes the production into the realm of a response to Shakespeare’s Othello, rather than an adaptation thereof, further complicating the stakes and character arcs by utilising a power structure more reminiscent of contemporary society than of the time of the production’s setting. With Desdemona as a wilful, outspoken woman, and Michael Cassio as a man of colour, the underlying themes become somewhat obfuscated. An audience with a strong knowledge of the original text may find it more accessible than an audience who does not, as some of the adaptive elements create strong subversions of climactic events and the original thematic elements of the text.
That being said, the cast is star-studded, with some of South Africa’s most notable actors taking the stage. Among them is Atandwa Kani, established actor (The tempest, Mandela: Long walk to freedom, Black Panther) and son of celebrated creator and performer John Kani, as Othello. Albert Pretorius (The promise, Katvoet, Bloed en bodem) performs as Iago, and Carla Smith (Mirakel, Terminaal 3) as Desdemona. The lyricism of Shakespeare’s iambic pentameter is at times overwhelming, though moments of comedy (notably from Pretorius’s Iago) and tragedy (notably from Yiswa’s Emelia) do break these rhythms. Though there are strong individual performances, there also seems to be a quiet disconnect between the performers, creating a sense of disrupted ensemble and style which creates a discomfiting, quiet tension on the stage. With this rendition of Foot’s Othello being the recreation of a production first staged in Germany, one almost feels a ghost of the previous cast as an ephemeral presence on the stage in moments where the performers don’t seem to connect to one another or to the intensive arcs of their characters. It creates a sense that the performers were encouraged to recreate the performances of the cast before them, as opposed to discovering their own journeys and intentions for their characters. This disconnect of the ensemble to one another and the performers to some intentions reduced the clarity of pivotal themes in the performance. It must be noted, however, that I watched a preview of the production on 9 April 2024, and as such it would be disingenuous not to mention that the cast may have found their rhythms by opening night.
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Foot must be applauded for her ability to create engaging, thought-provoking theatre, and to take a text as classic as Othello and execute a vision which is both new and clearly appreciated by the audience.
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Despite the complexities (and occasional incongruence), this performance was met by an audience who was actively – at times verbally – engaging with it. Foot uses several devices, including Iago’s direct address of the audience, a soundscape which surrounds the audience, and even Othello walking out into the auditorium, to include the audience as a distinct character within the performance. The result of this was seemingly an audience who was enraptured and intrigued. This is no small feat, bringing Shakespeare into contemporary relevance and keeping an audience on the edge of their seats for the two-and-a-half-hour runtime. As the curtains dropped, the audience sprang to their feet for a standing ovation which endured for several minutes, and called the cast to return to the stage for a final bow. Foot must be applauded for her ability to create engaging, thought-provoking theatre, and to take a text as classic as Othello and execute a vision which is both new and clearly appreciated by the audience.
Lara Foot’s Othello is an ambitious adaptation of the original text. The imagery she creates on stage is certainly striking, and at times moving. Though the adaptation feels somewhat convoluted and disconnected, this production was nevertheless one which seemed to elicit an overwhelmingly positive response from an audience composed of a very wide demographic – from high-schoolers to the elderly. Othello will be playing at this year’s Toyota Stellenbosch Woordfees, between 28 September and 1 October, in the Adam Small Auditorium.
Tickets are available online on Quicket.
Also read:
Lara Foot’s Othello at the Toyota Stellenbosch Woordfees 2024: Merwe van Gent’s review
Lara Foot’s Othello at the Toyota Stellenbosch Woordfees 2024: Angelique Filter’s review
Toyota Stellenbosch Woordfees 2024: ’n onderhoud met Cintaine Schutte oor ’n Begin
Toyota Stellenbosch Woordfees 2024: ’n onderhoud met Saartjie Botha
Toyota Stellenbosch Woordfees 2024: ’n onderhoud met Saartjie Botha
Toyota Stellenbosch Woordfees 2024: Skatkis vol stories – ’n onderhoud met Danneline Ramsden