So it is that Othello marches again, this time in an imaginative creation from Director and Adapter Tiger Reel who brings the Moor across the centuries and across the ocean to Washington D.C. and then to Fort Cyprus Florida where mayhem, murder and mishaps abound as the story of love, passion, mistrust and jealousy unfolds.

 

Othello, Iago and Cassio are members of a Special Ops unit just returned from the front.  We are informed that a great victory has been won over the Turks and now that they are back home at Fort Cyprus Desdemona goes to join her husband.

Victor Dickerson - Abbie Cobb

 

With only seven actors playing the entire cast some doubling up was necessary and while Reel was careful to keep the characters delineated some overlap was inevitable. We will only give a skeleton of the story, since almost everyone knows that Othello promoted Cassio over his friend Iago and this made Iago furious. So much so that he began to hatch a plot to convince Othello that his wife Desdemona was having an affair with Cassio, hoping to bring down Cassio and get the best of Othello. Meantime Roderigo is also angry that Desdemona spurned him over Othello and agrees to help Cassio bring down the Moor. Othello begins to believe Iago and in a final fit of jealousy kills his wife – kills Iago who kills Emelia his wife because she told the truth about his plot and then Othello kills himself. It wouldn’t be Shakespeare if the body count only ended with one or two.

Victor Dickerson is very good and forceful as Othello while Abbie Cobb seems much to young for Desdemona. Besides, their chemistry doesn’t quite reach the boiling point. Jim Hanna is the evil Iago, sometimes comical, and almost sinister and wicked. We get a glimpse of his evilness in a pre-play scene where he tortures a presumed prisoner of war – a ploy to let us know what evil lurks in the heart of this man. Othello is easily convinced by Iago, who has a reputation for being honest and claims to have nothing but the best intentions in his heart. Right.

Easily, hands down the best performance is by Lacy Altwine as Emelia, Iago’s wife and attendant to Desdemona. Though not a primary role, Altwine convinces us of her genuine love for Desdemona, her obedience to her husband Iago, and then the deep disdain and contempt she feels for him upon learning of his treacherous deed. Would that the others had her passion – the crowd would still be standing and cheering!

A combined array of video screens in the background provides fascinating ongoing images, as if from satellite night vision feeds of battle scenes and maneuvers with some intriguing sound effects. The actors do wonders on the spartan, dark stage that has not much more than a platform slightly larger than a king size bed and a few square wooden boxes which double as seats, pedestals and whatever else is needed.

Tiger Reel’s vision seeks to reconcile the present day horrors of war and PDST with the motivations and the actions of the military of Othello’s time. The dialogue has remained quite faithful to the original and the underlying issue of race remains lurking in the not so unspoken background.

Othello runs through August 20, 2011. Reservations at 1-800-838-306. Produced by Action! Theatre Co in alliance with The Production Company. At the Lex Theatre 6760 Lexington Avenue, Hollywood, CA 90038.

www.theprodco.com  www.action-theatre.com