He was a new spouse who was enamored with her, and she was his “gentle love,” only minutes before. He now swears to murder her in “Othello,” Act III, Scene 3.
What has taken place? Why does the great Black commander Othello, who saved Venice from the Ottomans during a battle, decide to kill Desdemona, the jewel of the white nobility he has gained at tremendous risk?
One of Shakespeare’s most compelling and perplexing scenes is the one where this odd transformation takes place, and the renowned Broadway production of “Othello,” which debuted on Sunday at the Ethel Barrymore Theater, maintains this status.
We can appreciate that, but what’s so compelling about Denzel Washington’s dominant performance is maybe too perplexing. He gives us a general whose psyche is as mysterious to us as it is to him, and, like in many of his films, he takes the lead with action. Stiffened by his ramrod military demeanor and speaking quickly with a faint mid-Atlantic accent, he shows little sign of the wounds and sorrows that affected Desdemona when he courted her. Emotion seems to be less important than promptness and decisiveness (“to be once in doubt is once to be resolved”).
Even though Shakespeare gives us a lot of reasons why he would have wished to use falsehoods about Desdemona to poison his commander and awaken the infamous green-eyed monster of jealousy, we are usually left in the dark until the cur is punished. His contradictory statement, “I am not what I am,”
This “Othello” presents an Iago who is far more readable than his master in an intriguing reversal. A little bit Travis Bickle and a little part crazy scientist, Jake Gyllenhaal’s eely perspective has a physical wiggle to go along with his moral one. Like a rat in a labyrinth, his blue eyes pierce the atmospheric haze as he follows every path that may lead him to his destination, revealing to us the thoughts of a deranged man.
Kenny Leon’s stylish and bold modern-dress show has strikingly flipped polarities. Othello is quite rational and even humorous as he walks into that tragic encounter. With Desdemona (Molly Osborne), he has a friendly banter and consents to rethink his severe punishment of Cassio (Andrew Burnap), a lieutenant whose unusual roistering had led to violence a few nights prior. He tells his wife uxoriously, “I will not deny you anything.”
Then Iago comes in. The ensign does his wicked alchemy, quickly flicking his master’s master switch, while spreading the falsehood that Cassio had slept with Desdemona and, worse, that he was observed “wiping his beard” with the handkerchief Othello gave her. Washington is a great monster, and Othello is only going to get horrible from now on. However, he has not provided character gradations in the past or present that would aid in bridging the gap between the past and the present.
