Great to find this forum, this is my first post. I'm working on performance piece of live music-theater in which the entire play is a rock band in rehearsal. With text during the band's breaks and the songs tney sing we realize that the characters are playing out the plot of Othello. As the band continues to rehearse their songs transform into opera with the rock instrumentation remaining. Here's where I need some help on plot development. I want to "flip" Othello. I want Desdemona to out Iago and reveal that Othello has been set up. But how do I do this with some flair, creativity and surprise?. It's too easy just to out Iago revealing that he has planted the seeds of Desdemona's false affair. In addition, what is the ending? Does Othello simply apologize to Desdemona and kick Iago out of the band? That sounds way too boring. Does Othello off himself for his near murder of Desdemona - that seems too extreme. Does he quit the band? That sounds too meek. Any ideas appreciated. Below is a link to Othello if you don't know the plot. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Othello
The crux of the 'real' Othello's character (in my opinion) is the fact that he allows himself to be manipulated. The fact that he finds out that Iago was lying to him later on isn't really the issue. It's why he 'fell' for such a load of codswallop in the first place. He must have been fundamentally insecure, despite his bluster as a commander, etc. If you focus on what makes characters tick, rather than on 'what happened,' your answer may appear to you! We can't always choose what happens to us, but we can choose how we react to it. Has your 'Othello' learned anything other than "Iago is bad?" In the story I'm working on myself, at the moment, I have an incident where possible philandering has been reported to one of my main characters. (It's not actually happening, but my MC has no way of knowing for sure.) When the MC gets asked, "Do you trust him?"—'him' meaning the guy everybody thinks is seducing the MC's wife—my MC replies, "I trust her." And he does.
It may be called “Othello” but I found that the whole narrative revolved around Iago. Look at what Iago says here: I told him what I thought, and told no more Than what he found himself was apt and true. I take this to show Iago as the proverbial ‘devil on the shoulder’ and it just so happens that the devil wins out in the end. Othello is shown as a stalwart character, loved by everyone despite being in an alien land. He charms people and gains their respect. He is though, merely human and the adage ‘the bigger they are ...’ is certainly part of this narrative. Iago for me represents that part within us all that wishes to tear ourselves down, to mock our better qualities and humiliate ourselves - we all, on some level, feel ourselves as being unable to live up to our own expectations, of being unworthy of life (to some degree at some point in our lives). Note: Iago doesn’t act out of jealousy, he merely beings down the revered people in the story revealing that what makes them great shows can make their faults amplified. Like when he maims that handsome athletic guy ... er ... Rodrigo? Maybe I’m getting the names muddled - basically he takes someone considered handsome and a great swordsman and cripples him for life, thus asking the question ‘without his physical prowess what is he?’ Basically Iago is the inner voice that we all have that wishes to remind us constantly that we’re not good enough and that what small boon we have are merely masks over our darker natures - things we wish not to look at. So, in light of this I would suggest that the characters although angered at Iago’s behavior may after all have to admit some degree of appreciation toward him for revealing their faults and getting them to face up to the fact that they are fickle creatures and prone to the most hideous acts with a few small, and well placed, shoves and pushes. You could even twist the narrative further - with some alterations - and make Othello the anti-hero and Iago the hero. After all if Othello was going to kill her surely Desdemona would be thankful to Iago for revealing this rather important fault within the passionate heart of Othello? Did Iago save Desdemona from a brutal future because he truly loved her? Did he deem the suffering she felt in the play to be nothing compared to a future as the wife of an overly passionate and unquestioned public figure (a life imprisoned and beaten due to hot-tempered jealousy?) So many directions you could take the story. I don’t see why you want to present an alternative ending though by changing the script? All of what I’ve mentioned can be conveyed by HOW the play is performed if you put enough thought into it - some simple expression of Iago’s love for Desdemona could be achieved and within his soliloquies it wouldn’t be hard to have the actor present these with a sense of inner-struggling where Iago is occasionally conveying the very opposite of what he means; perhaps believing himself to be evil rather than of being in love and trying to help Desdemona from a future of pain and suffering.
Thanks Badger, I like your focus on Iago, gives me a lot to ponder and your possible shifts of hero/antihero. Jannert thanks as well, I think knowing what ticks in Othello will help. This give me a lot of food for thought.
Badger, care to elaborate on how you would make Iago the hero and Othello the anti hero, I could use some ideas?
It’s been a LONG time since I read Othello (I’ve never seen it performed live). I was not thinking about changing the script at all, merely to have the actor portray Iago as someone who is still a nasty piece of work yet in love with Desdemona and trying to deny that they are ... so he would be a kind of tragic hero; someone who has started to reform their attitude yet ends up unconsciously sacrificing themselves to save Desdemona from a harmful union. On the flip side Othello starts out as the hero, but Iago sees past his good qualities and realises something dangerous lurks just under the surface. This could be shown through the soliloquies of Iago by having the actor at loggerheads with themselves - saying one thing yet CLEARLY wishing for, or meaning, the opposite. You could still use the rock star theme without changing the dialogue imo. Like I said, it’s been a LONG time since I read it and I cannot remember if the Rodrigo I referred to is the correct character ... maybe it was Cassio? I’m not really willing to more thought into it than that. How exactly you convince the audience to sympathise with Iago is your choice. I’m certain I could make such a transition from hero to villain (Othello) and villain to tragic hero (Iago) work though. Just remember that when something is acted out the tone of the dialogue can be dictated by the actors, to some degree.
