Reacting to Different Othello Adaptations (Film, Stage & Opera Watch-along) (Patreon)

It's time for another fun watch-along. Today we're appreciating different adaptations of Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Othello.

We have a production of Verdi's opera Otello directed by Franco Zeffirelli, and the 1995 film version with Laurence Fishburne and Kenneth Branagh. 

We're also watching the marvellous Paul Robeson in interview and performance, an interview with Toni Morrison on removing Iago from the play, Orson Welles' 1952 film version, a 2015 Royal Shakespeare Company production, and James Earl Jones' moving monologue at the White House.

Video Timestamps

• 0:00 Kenneth Branagh's Iago
• 6:20 Paul Robeson's interview on Othello
• 20:46 Paul Robeson monologue ("Soft you")
• 22:36 Laurence Fishburne's Othello
• 30:27 Orson Welles' Othello
• 33:00 James Earl Jones' Othello
• 41:39 Iqbal Khan's 2015 RSC production
• 44:30 Verdi's opera Otello (Zeffirelli production)
• 47:30 Toni Morrison's interview on Othello

Questions for You:

1) Did any of the versions we enjoyed together do it for you? If so, why?

2) Did you see things differently in the theatre of your mind?

3) What other Othello adaptations would you recommend we watch?

Thank you for sharing many of your favourite passages, and I hope you're feeling energised for our next deep-reading: Antony and Cleopatra. 

Happy reading, everybody!