Summary Of Othello: An Interview With Andrew Davies
An Interview with Andrew Davies
William Shakespeare 's original tragedy Othello is about a Moorish general in the service of Venice who is lured into murderous, self-destructive jealousy by a scheming subordinate. Andrew Davies 's modern retelling is set in New Scotland Yard and has all the Bard 's wit, romance, pity, and terror -- and then some.
Davies is the screenwriting sensation behind a fascinating mix of theatrical and Masterpiece Theatre productions including Bridget Jones 's Diary, The Tailor of Panama, Take a Girl Like You, Wives and Daughters, A Rather English Marriage, Emma, Moll Flanders, Pride and Prejudice, Circle of Friends, Middlemarch, House of Cards, and To Serve Them All My Days.
An accomplished author as well, Davies has published a collection of short stories, Dirty Faxes, and two novels (and their companion screenplays), Getting Hurt and B Monkey. In addition to numerous children 's books, he has also written for children 's …show more content…
I didn 't want to follow the story slavishly, but to use elements of the plot as jumping-off points. One of the tricky things, of course, is that Shakespeare 's plot turns on Desdemona 's handkerchief. Nobody uses handkerchiefs these days, and certainly nobody attaches any significance to them. It occurred to me that one might be able to do something that had more metaphorical significance than a handkerchief, something that wasn 't just a dearly loved present, which actually had something intimately to do with Othello and Desdemona 's sex life.
At first I thought it might be a shirt that she had given him and he particularly liked. Then I thought even better would be a silk robe that she has bought for him and which becomes a part of their lovemaking. When Othello comes back and finds that Michael Cass has put it on, it looks like he 's saying he has made love to Desdemona, that Cass has taken Othello 's place in his
William Shakespeare 's original tragedy Othello is about a Moorish general in the service of Venice who is lured into murderous, self-destructive jealousy by a scheming subordinate. Andrew Davies 's modern retelling is set in New Scotland Yard and has all the Bard 's wit, romance, pity, and terror -- and then some.
Davies is the screenwriting sensation behind a fascinating mix of theatrical and Masterpiece Theatre productions including Bridget Jones 's Diary, The Tailor of Panama, Take a Girl Like You, Wives and Daughters, A Rather English Marriage, Emma, Moll Flanders, Pride and Prejudice, Circle of Friends, Middlemarch, House of Cards, and To Serve Them All My Days.
An accomplished author as well, Davies has published a collection of short stories, Dirty Faxes, and two novels (and their companion screenplays), Getting Hurt and B Monkey. In addition to numerous children 's books, he has also written for children 's …show more content…
I didn 't want to follow the story slavishly, but to use elements of the plot as jumping-off points. One of the tricky things, of course, is that Shakespeare 's plot turns on Desdemona 's handkerchief. Nobody uses handkerchiefs these days, and certainly nobody attaches any significance to them. It occurred to me that one might be able to do something that had more metaphorical significance than a handkerchief, something that wasn 't just a dearly loved present, which actually had something intimately to do with Othello and Desdemona 's sex life.
At first I thought it might be a shirt that she had given him and he particularly liked. Then I thought even better would be a silk robe that she has bought for him and which becomes a part of their lovemaking. When Othello comes back and finds that Michael Cass has put it on, it looks like he 's saying he has made love to Desdemona, that Cass has taken Othello 's place in his