A Must-See 'Othello' Opens at Chicago Shakespeare Theater

Chicago Shakespeare Theater has mounted a truly state-of-the-art production of one of the Bard's greatest tragedies, Othello, in its mainstage Courtyard Theater on Navy Pier.  Everything, from the acting to the designs to the elocution to the pacing, is top-notch and exemplary.  Now if they could just find a script worthy of all that theatrical expertise!

To start off, Derrick Lee Weeden as Othello is a marvel, the real deal, whose performance simply must be seen.  A veteran of more than 40 productions throughout 20 seasons at Oregon Shakespeare Festival (one of the world's finest Shakespeare theaters, a list in which Chicago Shakes is increasingly included), he is making his house debut here in a role to which he is perfectly matched.  If there were enough quality productions of Othello around, I am sure that Weeden could play the Moor exclusively and have a fine career doing so, but his resume boasts the full range of Shakespeare scripts and theaters, with forays into other classical plays as well as the work of contemporary black playwrights.  With his manly bearing, a voice worthy of smooth jazz, evening drive time radio, and with a superlative understanding of the role's every nuance, he is a find and worth probably twice what he is being paid.  His wild-eyed, incredulous stares of horror and his fits of jealousy, rage and epilepsy are equally matched by his gentleness toward his new bride and his regal, warrior's gait.  Simply put, he is a star.  Do not miss this performance.

Iago, that great, evil schemer who brings down Othello, himself, both their wives and several others with his unrelenting plot of revenge, is here portrayed by Paul Niebanck, also making his CST debut after earning an MFA from Yale, crafting numerous New York credits and working in a variety of theatrical periods on east coast stages.  His Iago is smart (too smart for his compatriots, really), handsome and sexy in a contained sort of way.  This is a man who uses his brains enough to know that he shouldn't let people see his brains at work.  Better to smile and chum it up, seduce his working class wife into doing anything and everything (she can't do better than he, can she?) and use his friends and co-workers as unwitting pawns in a game that takes over all their lives as insidiously as the plague.  He is softer spoken than one might expect, but every bit as forked of tongue as the slickest, prettiest Iago you can imagine.  No one has a chance.

The women come off only slightly less well.  Allison Batty as Desdemona is poised, affecting and well spoken, her character not as young or coltish as she might be, but every bit the young wife of a respected general.  Lesley Bevan as Emilia is slatternly as opposed to submissive in the early going, rising to tremendous heights of heroism and nobility by the end—alas, too late.  Fine work is also turned in here by house and Chicago favorite Sean Fortunato as Michael Cassio, Kurt Ehrmann as the Duke of Venice and especially John Hoogenakker as the lovesick, ill-fated Roderigo, making a noble young man out of a guy in love with a girl who doesn't know he exists, a guy who would do (and does do) anything to get her—a doomed pawn from the start, he doesn't even know it (or does he?).

The technical aspects of this production are first-rate.  The show is directed by Marti Maraden, an Artistic Director of the Stratford (Ontario) Shakespeare Festival, another of those top tier institutions with which CST is increasingly on par.  Christopher Akerlind's lighting is masterful, used to stunning effect at several moments and showing that he is one of the best lighting designers working in the field in the United States today.  The interplay of light, set and cast, always in service of the play, is quite remarkable indeed (dare I say, illuminating).  The set by Patrick Clark consists mainly of a clever series of shutters than move in and out to create the background in front of which tables and chairs come and go—it takes full advantage of the Courtyard Theater's Globe and Guthrie-derived stage architecture.  And the roughly Edwardian/Gilded Age costumes by Christina Poddubiuk, sword holsters and all, create clean, manly lines for the mostly male cast and elegant, softer silhouettes for the women—though I must say that I couldn't quite tell if there was a dramaturgical or historical reason for setting the show 100 years ago.  There is nothing wrong with a Shakespearean aesthetic that lets The Ballad of Baby Doe wander amidst a chorus line full of replicas of Madama Butterfly's Lt. Pinkerton—I just didn't understand it.

Other technical elements were superbly executed as well.  The sword-and-dagger play by fight choreographer Robin Farquhar was fully present, well-schooled and effective.  Composer Marc Desormeaux's incidental music was lovely, evocative, well-crafted and well-married to the text.  The work of vocal coach Christine Adair and text coach Larry Yando was evident throughout the play—every word, that is, every word, of the text was spoken fluently, effectively, with clear meaning, full control of the breath and mastery of the length of the poetic phrases, and that from every single one of the 17 actors listed.  This is no small achievement, but one that Chicago Shakes takes seriously to heart.