Otello

The poison of doubt

Otello opens with a storm. Without a prelude, Verdi plunges the drama straight into the present, as though the music were setting us immediately in the eye of the storm. Inspired by Othello, the opera recounts less the downfall of a hero than the slow workings of deceit, as Iago sows suspicion until he disfigures Otello’s love for Desdemona and transforms doubt into a destructive force through subtle shifts, fractures and poisoned words. Director Ted Huffman approaches this tragedy without excess, in a space where the tension between the characters surfaces in every glance and every silence. Chorus, bodies and voices gradually trace the tightening vice until the point of no return. An intimate tragedy, in which love, honour and power are consumed in the blinding flash of the irreparable.

Exploring further:

Desdemona (Toni Morrison, 2012): Conceived in collaboration with Peter Sellars and Rokia Traoré, this theatrical reworking shifts the focus to Desdemona and the female voices, in a dialogue of words and music.

Che cosa sono le nuvole ? (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1967): During a performance of Othello in a puppet theatre, the actors rebel against the cruelty of their roles: a brief, free and metaphysical variation on Shakespeare.

Event in partnership with Le Livre sur la Place and Le Hall du Livre Nancy: Fri 25 Sept at 7pm at the Opera