Home | Movies By Year | Movies from 1990


Othello (Theatre Night)

Buy Othello (Theatre Night) now from Amazon

First, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the movie. And once you've experienced the movie, tell everyone what you thought about it.

Wikipedia article




'Othello' is a 1990 film produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company, starring Ian McKellen, Willard White, Imogen Stubbs, and Zo Wanamaker. It is based on a stage production of William Shakespeare's play 'Othello', directed by Trevor Nunn, and later rethought for TV and filmed in a studio. It was shot in a black box theater, so minimal props or scenery were needed, and aired 23 June 1990 on 'Theatre Night'.

Cast



*Ian McKellen as Iago

*Willard White as Othello

*Imogen Stubbs as Desdemona

*Zo Wanamaker as Emilia

*Michael Grandage as Roderigo

*Clive Swift as Brabantio / Gratiano

*John Burgess as Duke of Venice / Lodovico

*Marsha Hunt as Bianca

Production



Trevor Nunn directed the film himself based on his 1989 production for the Royal Shakespeare Company. The sets, costumes, and props are from the American Civil War, but the dialogue remains tied to Venice and Cyprus. In contrast with 'Antony and Cleopatra' (1974) and 'Macbeth' (1979), Nunn preferred "contemplative" medium shots over extreme closeups. The film makes little attempt to hide that it is a filmed stage production. Michael Brooke, writing for BFI Screenonline, thinks this is because Nunn's state purpose was to preserve the stage production for posterity. The film presents almost the complete text of the play, leaving out just one scene with Cassio and the clown.

Reception



The previous film adaptation of a Nunn stage production for the Royal Shakespeare Company of a Shakespeare play, 'Macbeth' (1979), was "widely regarded as one of the finest screen Shakespeares ever", so expectations for this adaptation were "sky-high". Brooke thinks the expectations were " generally met by a production that holds a very distinguished place amongst filmed Othellos, and is arguably its most successful television translation." He particularly calls out "the beautifully achieved chemistry between the four leads" as among its strongest features.

In the 'Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare on Film', Carol Chillington Rutter finds a feminist perspective in the film:

Notes



References



*

*

*

Further reading



*


Buy Othello (Theatre Night) now from Amazon

<-- Return to movies from 1990



This work is released under CC-BY-SA. Some or all of this content attributed to http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1102068604.