Ottawa Fringe 2014. Othello

Reviewed by Kat Fournier

Trinity Pit Stop Theatre Co.’s Othello is a Shakespeare re-mix, set in a steampunk wasteland where vanity and exposure are celebrated. It’s a perfect setting for Iago’s greedy manipulation of his master. This production is both spectacle and substance: The set is amazing, the staging is incredibly dynamic, and the young actors showed great proficiency of Shakespeare’s text. What’s more: This “modernization” works. The atmosphere – lighting, sound, set, and costuming – form an excellent playground for an interpretation of Othello that emphasizes the role of vanity and ego in his undoing. The script intends the blur the lines of villain and hero, and unfortunately Iago tends to be one-sided in this regard (his more sympathetic qualities lost, perhaps due to annotation). Still: The actor who plays Iago wields incredible power on-stage. You can look forward to the final stand-off between Iago and Othello. This production is total sensory overload, fast paced, and a good deal of fun. Theatre at its most entertaining.

at Arts Court theatre on Saturdays

Trinity Pit Stop Theatre Co

Written by William Shakespeare, Directed by Stavros Stakiadis