REVIEW: Othello at Flight Path Theatre

To be totally honest, the last time I heard of Othello was in Year 8 English. Who would’ve thought those annotations would actually come in handy? That being said, even if you never read Othello in high school, Diana Paola Alvarado’s take on the Shakespearean classic will still guide you through the emotions with ease.

I always love watching Shakespeare on stage because, no matter how many times it’s been performed, there’s always a fresh angle – a small twist or bold reimagining that keeps it alive. It’s one of my favourite puzzles to figure out. This all-female, dystopian-tinged Othello was no exception. The original language stayed intact, but the set and costume design brought an eerie, industrial edge that I was, quite literally, obsessed with.

Shakespearean dialogue can swallow an actor whole if they’re not careful. But when someone truly owns it, the audience flows with them and the potential difficulties of the language barrier dissolve. Natasha Cheng’s take on ‘Othello’ achieved just that. Cheng was a commanding and magnetic presence onstage, an absolute stand-out. Possessed with jealousy and condemned to deceitfulness, her emotional scale gripped the audience from the second we saw her. I found myself anticipating her presence every time she moved to centre stage. 

Image by @fg_australia

An intriguing choice in this production was the setup and direction of the characters. Each character was imprisoned onstage, never leaving and always lingering on the outskirts. Even as the audience walked into the theatre, the characters were already at their stations. Their constant presence created the sense that they were being watched, a striking connection to the play’s motif of manipulation. Everyone’s fate was in the hands of others and this claustrophobic set design heightened said fate.

Coming back to the set design because it deserves its own spotlight… just wow. Leandro Sanchez and Jason Lowe captured the feeling of imprisonment through the use of four metallic pillars that shifted to reshape the space, marking transitions. It kept the stage alive and present. You also had no real understanding of where exactly the play was set or when. It was mysterious and allowed the audience a blank enough space to be enveloped in the world the characters create and build with each scene. Eerie and industrial, it matched the layered, dystopian costumes perfectly. Sanchez and Lowe perfected this sense of unease, that was further matched with the clouds of smoke.

The monstrosity of the green-eyed monster was highlighted through impeccable lighting choices. Some of my favourite moments came when lighting design sharpened ‘Iago’s’ (Lisa Hanssens) infamous plotting monologues, adding an extra sinister edge.

Iago’s monologues were a highlight, but it was the dynamic between Iago and Othello that really hooked me. They bounced off each other effortlessly. Quite like watching a tennis match. Their expressions were vivid and bountiful, and their delivery made the text highly digestible. Hanssens’ and Chengs’ ability to make the action accessible made this Othello an easy introduction for someone new to the play. As much as I found these two were commanding and present, at times I found that there lacked tension and ease in dialogue throughout some of the rest of the scenes in the production. 

The use of voice throughout the piece was another interesting detail, with singing woven in across the performance and adding a layer of texture. At times, the songs didn’t quite match the scene at play and lingered just a bit too long that the tension that they spent a while building, ended up dissipating. Still, it was enchanting to have a chorus creating the soundscape themselves, charging the scenes with their own voices.

If you’re looking to spice up your Shakespeare watchlist, this is worth it. And it helps answer the age-old question: why do we keep performing Shakespeare? You’ll find your answer within this show.

3.5 Stars!