Re-Contextualization of Othello for a Contemporary Audience
Othello is a Shakespearean tragedy involving the schemes and plots of the villainous Iago against the Moor, Othello, and his wife Desdemona. Frantic Assembly’s performance of Othello incorporates the dramatic languages and perspectives of Physical theatre, as well as heightened Realism, to effectively re-contextualize the play for a modern audience. The re-contextualized play is very successful whilst still being true to the original text, combining parts of the Shakespearean script with an array of music, dance and movement resulting in the creation of a unique contemporary physical theatre. The elements of drama, along with conventions of both physical and Elizabethan theatre, were used by Frantic Assembly to create a contemporary play from a heritage Shakespearean text that is relevant to a modern audience.
Frantic Assembly has successfully re-contextualized Othello by transposing the time and setting to make it relevant to a twenty-first century audience whilst still retaining the original plot and a number of conventions of heightened Realism. The original setting of Othello has been creatively transposed from Venice to a grungy pub called ‘The Cyprus’ in England. Although the play has been placed into a completely different context, some Elizabethan conventions are still evident. Soliloquy is often used in Shakespearean text to allow the audience to know things that other characters in the play do not. A good example of the use of soliloquy in Frantic Assembly’s performance of Othello was when Iago explained to the audience his plan to ruin Othello:
…And nothing can or shall content my soul
Till I am even'd with him, wife for wife,
Or failing so, yet that I put the Moor
At least into a jealousy so strong
That judgment cannot cure… (Shakespeare, DHFWJGFUWG)??
This soliloquy provided the audience with the knowledge that Iago was not as honest and noble as he appeared to be to the other characters in the play. This allowed the audience to foreshadow what
Frantic Assembly has successfully re-contextualized Othello by transposing the time and setting to make it relevant to a twenty-first century audience whilst still retaining the original plot and a number of conventions of heightened Realism. The original setting of Othello has been creatively transposed from Venice to a grungy pub called ‘The Cyprus’ in England. Although the play has been placed into a completely different context, some Elizabethan conventions are still evident. Soliloquy is often used in Shakespearean text to allow the audience to know things that other characters in the play do not. A good example of the use of soliloquy in Frantic Assembly’s performance of Othello was when Iago explained to the audience his plan to ruin Othello:
…And nothing can or shall content my soul
Till I am even'd with him, wife for wife,
Or failing so, yet that I put the Moor
At least into a jealousy so strong
That judgment cannot cure… (Shakespeare, DHFWJGFUWG)??
This soliloquy provided the audience with the knowledge that Iago was not as honest and noble as he appeared to be to the other characters in the play. This allowed the audience to foreshadow what
Bibliography: Frantic Assembly n.d., Othello, Theatre Royal Plymouth Theatres in collaboration with Royal and Derngate Northampton, accessed 12 March 2012, Gardner, L 2008, Othello, Guardian News and Media Limited, accessed 14 March 2012, Marlowe, J 2008, Viewpoints, LoveActing.com, accessed 12 March 2012, Schwartz, D 2005, Shakespearean Verse and Prose, California Polytechnic State University, accessed 14 March 2012, Time Out 2008, Othello, Time out Group Ltd., accessed 11 March 2012,