by Fadi Chahine
On the 29th of January, Al Mawakeb high-school students headed to the Dubai opera for an experience that was a first for many of the attendees. Students and teachers alike filed into the theater in anticipation of a play they’d booked for months ago: Othello.
As everyone settled into their seats, the lighting slowly reached a dimness that foreshadowed nothing but tragedy to the main character Othello. The play begins with a hearty conciliation between two lovers and continues by introducing the audience to one Iago and Roderigo. With this introduction, the audience is pointed towards the point of conflict of the play, a mutual desire for the lovely Desdemona.
As Othello progresses, the actors and actresses display an amazingly realistic expression of emotion to a concussed audience. Yet, if you just listened to the hall as the plays rolled out on the theater, you wouldn’t know it was a tragedy. It could be due to Iago’s downplayed evil and more casual delivery of “I hate the moor”. Or it could be due to the musical number in between.
Yet, as amazing as the play goes, the actors are even more phenomenal. Despite Desdemona and Roderigo’s bland performance, Othello and Emilia together had the audience on the edge of their seats with every move and word they made and said. Newcomers to Othello, or Shakespeare in general, will certainly feel the essence of the play and the depth and meaning of a Shakespearean tragedy.