Outstanding 'Othello'

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Review of 'Othello'

SPOILER ALERT!

Staring Steven Miller (Iago), Mark Ebulue (Othello) Leila Crerar (Emilia), Kirsty Oswald (Desdemona), Frantic Assembly's inspired production runs until 7^th February 2015 at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, London with a running time of 1hr 40mins (no interval).

Last week, I went to see ‘Othello’ at London’s Hammersmith Lyric theatre. The incredible contemporary production was performed by Frantic Assembly and was set in a pub in West Yorkshire during the 1980s. Overall, it was absolutely stunning – a definite must see!

As we entered the club, sorry – theatre, pulsating music hit us immediately as we took our seats and eagerly awaited the start of the show. Set in a 1980s run-down West Yorkshire pub, the set consisted of a blandly beige and burgundy local with a small back alley and ladies toilets as set changes. Nether the less, the staging was very original and clever as the pub’s walls could move with shocking flexibility – a particularly helpful bit of engineering when Cassio was forced to become drunk – as we saw him fall into the moving walls, the disorientation meant that we felt equally intoxicated. The play centred round a pool table – an interesting choice as this play looks at race, jealousy and love – here set around a game where the white pushes other balls round to play but potting the black finishes it – I can’t help but see the production’s analogy here between Othello and Iago. The table was masterfully used for spot-lighting murder plots, death and a wedding bed – not to mention focusing the setting of the production.

The play combined a clever mix of Shakespeare’s original text with contemporary dance. This meant the cast actually shed some light onto Iago’s malicious motives before the play even begun as we watched Othello take his long black pool cue and ‘use it’ to show the girls how to play – a clever ‘pre watershed’ euphemism for Othello’s alleged affair with Emelia – as well as watching him see Cassio being promoted above himself. It also created some astonishing imagery for us as we watched Cassio completing fall after fall, back flips and back drops when he was unwillingly intoxicated.

Othello, played by Mark Ebulue, was very good. He balanced Othello’s aggressive traits well with a softer, vulnerable side to him. He packed in plenty of raw power. Particularly when confronting poor Desdemona and when asserting himself in his army or what here was a gang fight between the ‘Cypriots’ and rival gang, the ‘Turks’ (again, a show of wonderful modernisation as the producers brought this centuries-old play up to date). Ebulue also conveyed a believable gullible trait in Othello which served him well when believing Iago. Yet, as I will mention in a moment, this Othello compared to the production’s Iago almost became comedic when calling Iago ‘honest’ as this was so ironically far from the truth. Overall a solid, believable performance that was both entertaining and shocking to watch.

Iago, on the other hand was almost impossible to watch! Steven Miller portrayed this hateful villain with such painful sincerity that on many occasions we felt almost dirty as he colluded with us his diabolical plans. This was acting at its best. Despite Iago having such an evil reputation as a role, Miller promotes a sympathetic tone to the villain’s ploys. It was a perfect mixture of sly anger, bitterness and revenge with the timid, loyal, ‘honest Iago’ that poor Othello is blinded by. An overall brilliant piece of casting and an indulgent joy to watch.

Emilia, Leila Crerar, despite starting the play with an almost bland and watery portrayal, the development of her character to reach her climax was unforgettable. She grew throughout the performance until she claimed her role and took command of the stage. She was incredible. Delivering an ultimately heart wrenching performance as she unravelled the acts of her (fairly abusive) husband we saw her empowered by truth and righteousness. This meant the play truly climaxed at a heart-stopping, exhilarating end.

Overall: 4.5 Stars.

A wonderful production that amazed, angered, entertained and ultimately intoxicated us. Unfortunately, the necessary deviation from the original script must bring it down somewhat as I feel Shakespeare’s texts should not be altered as much as it was here. However, the inspired use of contemporary chorography (from Scott Graham, Steven Hoggett and Eddie Kay) and dramatic performances redeems this production to just off perfection.

Picture: www.franticassembly.co.uk

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The Theory of Everything

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Film Review of 'The Theory of Everything'

SPOILER ALERT!

This astonishing film follows one of the 20th century's most extraordinary men and his family. Golden Globe winner, Eddie Redmayne IS Stephen Hawking in the astounding story of how he surpassed all his expectations.

Last night, I had the extraordinary pleasure of going to see James Marsh’s new film, “The Theory of Everything”. Based on Jane Wilde’s marriage memoirs, the film follows the astonishing life of world genius, Steven Hawking in his ambitious study of time and his fight against motor neuron disease. The disease disrupts motor neurons/messages in the brain that send signals to muscles to make them work. When these signals are disrupted, it leads to muscle decay which causes loss of movement, speech and eventually death. Hawking was diagnosed with the illness at the age of just 21, whilst studying for his degree at Cambridge University (after already achieving a first at Oxford), with the prediction that he had only 2 years left to live. The film depicts his staggering battle with this disease as he succeeds all his expectations – like out living his life-expectancy by over 50 years! Hawking’s professional life has certainly been incredible with his work on time and universal theories being undoubtedly ground-breaking.

However, this film looks at Hawking’s personal life and how he had to cope with this deteriorating disease. It looked at the pressure this put on his family life, particularly the strain on his first wife, Jane who he met whilst studying at Cambridge.

The film’s stellar cast: Eddie Redmayne (Hawking) and Felicity Jones (Jane), portrayed their parts with such intense naturalism that you couldn’t help but get tangled up in their bewildering romance and astonishing story.

Jones, portrayed Jane with real depth of character as she showed the love of her husband yet also the strain the disease had on her and her family. She was very natural in her approach which was refreshing to see that she did not have any raging fits or shouting at Hawking like some films resort to to show the built up frustration and resentment that carers can sometimes suffer from. Instead, she mainly used her positioning in relation to Hawking, a clipped tone of voice here and there or a resentful glance. Yet this added a wider depth to her brave character. Indeed, she was portraying Jane Wilde, one of the most extraordinary women that gave up her own life to look after the man she loved. Her courage is relentless and her love just as generous. Although the main focus could have been Hawking’s fight with the disease to maintain his professional career, I’m thrilled that they used that as a sub-plot, deciding to focus mainly of Hawking’s personal life to give us a privileged and humbling insight into what he and his family went through and I’m sure, are still going through.

Ok, now I will talk about Eddie Redmayne’s Golden Globe winning performance. Where on Earth shall I begin? Maybe with the fact he acted a world-famous figure superbly? Or maybe with the fact that he portrayed a tear jerking, believable love story? Or maybe I should start with the fact he acted having motor neuron disease?! Redmayne’s physical performance was like none I’ve ever seen before. It was striking, bold and yes, a little uncomfortable to watch at times. As I mentioned earlier, motor neuron disease is a deteriorating illness that means the body’s muscles slowly start to decay and thus make a person immobile and unable to speak. But as I’ve said, this is a deteriorating disease that progressively gets worse. Redmayne’s journey from spritely student without a care in the world (a part from maybe a few jerky hand movements, the awkward foot placement here and there) to utter bodily distortion and moral dismay, was unbelievable. Every part of him was Hawking – from his backward foot placements, awkward leg jerks, abnormal hand positions, even to seeing the effort it took him to speak as the disease took hold of him – making his eyes and mouth twitch with irregular jaw strain and head positioning. Indeed, another aspect of remarkable talent was his speech. As it deteriorated, the sound became less distinct and harder to understand. Goodness knows how Redmayne perfected the part so well. Furthermore, what made this film almost hard to watch was his emotional journey as he started to struggle with everyday life, always getting harder. From accepting the fact that he wouldn’t be able to walk, to accepting that he couldn’t hold his children unsupported in his arms, to not being able to get up the stairs even using his elbows to crawl up (featured in a heart wrenching scene after he’d been made a doctor, with a PhD in Physics and then couldn’t get halfway up the stairs to see to his son, barely a toddler who was standing at the top, waiting for his dad).

Redmayne quite literally blew myself and I’m sure the rest of the audience away. He was undeniably brilliant in this role and all his hard work in achieving the perfect technique to play it had definitely worked off. I’m thrilled that he won his deserved Golden Globe yesterday night for best actor – as much as I enjoyed Cumberbatch as Alan Turing in the ‘Imitation Game’, Redmayne’s Hawking was impossible to beat.

Overall: 5 Stars.

This film is truly a testament to spirit, perseverance, love and ambition. This is an astonishing true story that will give you a tear in your eye throughout – from seeing the triumphs and downfalls of Hawking and of his family, this is a truly absorbing and astonishingly crafted film.

 

Picture: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2980516/ + Own editing on Paint

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