The play Othello is about a black officer whose marriage to a white woman ends very tragically due to the ingenious scheming of an "honest" friend of Othello.

I love the storyline of Othello. I had seen the movie Othello starring Laurence Fishbourne about 10 years ago and again about 1 month ago. I read the play, also about 1 month ago, and even read another book, "Othello - Shakespeare Made Easy" so that I would be able to better interpret the language in the play. I had even seen a very contemporary version of the play in a movie called "O" starring Mekhi Phifer and Julia Stiles. So it seemed fitting that the only thing left for me to see was a live performance of the play that I love so much.

I was very surprised when I first arrived at the William Carroll Amphitheatre, which is located just behind Fairytale Town, in William Land Park because I was just at Fairytale Town the previous week and I didn't even notice the stage area at all. So needless to say, I felt at home in a very familiar environment. I had brought a dinner picnic for myself and my husband and a blanket to curl up in. The ambiance was wonderful. The people that were in attendance were at ease with the comfortable atmosphere that the park-like seating gave.

On the opening scene, I will admit that my heart gave a start, because I thought that I was watching the wrong play. Iago, the scheming, honest friend was dressed like he was ready for battle in the Civil War! Rodrigo, who Iago was talking to was dressed in a suit! Where were the Elizabethan clothes that I was expecting to see? But I'm not one to let one distraction take away my joy.

But then in Act I, Scene III, at the Venetian Senate Chambers, the Duke, was a woman! Now, I, too, am a woman, but I did not expect, nor did I want to see a woman in the role of the Duke when in those times, women did not have any place in government.

This is when I looked back at my program and I see that the "place" is set in "Venice" and "Cyprus" accordingly, but the "time" is set in "the Late 1920's". That explains why the female Duke was dressed in sequined flapper dress.

I also did not like that Rodrigo, the jealous suitor, was African American and that were other African Americans playing various roles in the play. What I believed to be important in this tragedy of Shakespeare is that here was this man, Othello, a black Moor, who was able to woo and win the senators daughter, Desdemona despite his race and background. In the original play, Iago shouted to Brabantio (from his hiding place) that an "old black ram is tupping your white ewe" which, in the original play, leaves little doubt as to who is "tupping" his daughter, but in the play at the William A. Carroll Amphitheatre, the "old black ram" could have been any number of "black ram" because Othello was not the only "black ram" in the play. Having an African American play the part of Rodrigo really took away the prejudice that I think that Shakespeare might have been trying to get the audience to see because Rodrigo felt like he was better than Othello and that he should have been able to have his chance at "winning" Desdemona's love. Having other African American's throughout the play also took away Othello's individuality as the "black Moor", who had come so far with his position of office. He, therefore, in the original play, stood out amongst the sea of so many white Venetians as someone who had achieved a lot. In the play in the park, Othello did not stand out as the successful Moor in Venice.

However, I think that the actors did fabulous in their acting job. The actor portraying Othello, Gregory Jolivette, was very good. He has a face that shows a lot of different, yet convincing emotions. When he was reunited with his wife, Desdemona, you could see the love for his wife on his face. Not just in his smile, but his whole face expressed his love for her. And when he was way past any convincing that his wife was not having an affair, you could not only see the anger in his face, you could feel it in your stomach. Very scary to see that anger.

The actor portraying Desdemona, Kirsten Myers, shocked me when she sang "Willow, Willow". I always think that I can tell by the way someone will perform in a song based on how they speak. Well, I sure didn't expect Kirsten Myers to have such a beautiful voice. I didn't think that she had a bad voice to begin with, it just seemed a ordinary. Great acting with a actors voice. However, her singing voice was beyond ordinary. I also thought that she held great poise on the stage during the performance, even when her hat was accidentally knocked off by Othello during an embrace, she didn't falter.

Iago, Iago, Iago. How did they find someone so befitting of the role of Iago in Rod Breton? My only previous knowledge of a performance of Othello, as I said earlier, was in the 1995 movie version of Othello which portrayed Kenneth Branagh as Iago. Rod Breton made me feel the same about him as Kenneth Branagh did for me in the movie version: unbelievable loathing and hatred for you! That is some great acting to be able to get someone to feel such strong negative feelings towards you based on your acting skills. Ingenious

I like the acting of Alondra Mendoza who portrayed Bianca. One word to describe her acting: saucy! She was such a spitfire in the play and I really enjoyed seeing her on stage. She added a little extra "umph" to the play.

For my first Shakespeare play that I have ever attended, I was sadly disappointed because I wanted to see the clothing and correct ethnic and gender roles portrayed in the play. I wanted to experience the full Shakespeare atmosphere. I don't mean to sound as if the play was horrible. It just didn't hold up to what I envisioned as a Shakespeare Festival rendition of Othello. I guess if you close your eyes so that you won't want to be distracted by the weird time period version of Othello, you will probably enjoy the play much better.