Life and Leisure

The Bard's 'most perfect play' comes to town

By Chen Nan (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-10-15 08:19

The "green-eyed monster, which doth mock" is set to come to life when TNT Theater's production of Shakespeare's classic tragedy Othello hits the nation's stage.

After its last tour of 10 Chinese cities in 2009 with Macbeth, TNT Theater returns with Othello, for its longest tour of the country since the theater first came to China in 2007. This time, the tour will cover 17 cities, including Tianjin, Beijing and Guangzhou, over two months.

Founded in 1980 in Britain, and led by director Paul Stebbings, the touring troupe has an international reputation for presenting Shakespeare's major works.

The latest Othello production, the theater's ninth in China, features an impressive cast, including Eugene Washington as Othello - the first black actor to come to China with TNT - Holly Hinton as Desdemona and David Chittenden as the villainous Iago.

"I think it is important to have a genuine black performer in the role of Othello," says the director, who has worked with Washington before and considers him "a very sensitive actor".

"He is a big man and looks the right size and build for a warrior like Othello but he has this great ability to be vulnerable and sensitive," he adds. Stebbings worked with Hinton before. She was in Beijing in 2009 for the Stebbings-directed Gulliver's Travel at the National Center for the Performing Arts.

While attempting to stay true to the original and evoking the ambience of Shakespeare's times, TNT's production of Othello will feature a contemporary score by Thomas Johnson. In addition to speaking their lines, the actors will also sing and play musical instruments.

TNT's outdoor performances to date, at some 50 castles and palaces in nine countries, marks the biggest such tour by any theater company.

"It is hard work because we have to carry our own stage and 500 seats with us everywhere and set it all up - often for just one performance - and then move on. But it is a great way to make theater in the summer when most people want to be outdoors," Stebbings says.

He has been directing Shakespeare's plays for TNT since 2000, and says what sets apart the theater version is the live music played and sung by the actors and the care taken to get the story across without resorting to tricks or opulent sets.

"It's all about good acting and exciting theater," Stebbings says.

The upcoming tour also marks the 30th anniversary of TNT Theater.

"Othello is a special play - perhaps Shakespeare's best written work," the director says. "It has a clear storyline and some of his finest poetry combined with a profound analysis of what it is to be alive, mulling questions such as 'what is love?' and 'what is evil?'"

"I think it is a good choice to celebrate 30 years of TNT Theater and a good choice for China - where the hunger for Shakespeare can be satisfied with a fine meal of his most perfect play."

China Daily