Black and White Imagery in Shakespeare's Othello
The use of dark and light imagery in Othello
Othello is one of Shakespeare's more famous plays - a dramatic tragedy, around Othello himself, a famous general, and his downfall as he follows the taunts and lies of Iago into jealousy and madness. During Othello, Shakespeare uses a great deal of imagery to convey various commentary, moods and plot points. Some of the most powerful (and relevant to character and audience) imagery is the contrast of light and dark. Light and dark represented good and evil, a holdover of superstition, and is...

Troilus and Cressida
At The Globe
I was really excited to visit the Globe as I'd heard so much about it. When I did my costume degree a couple of my classmates went there for work experience. We decided to see Troilus and Cressida (rather than As You LIke It) because I'd not seen it before (nor was I even aware it was a play by Shakespeare). My partner asked a colleague, who knows about these things, about the play and she said it wasn't one of Shakespeare's best so we didn't have high hopes. She said it was muddled and you...

Which Version, Cardenio?
It's Not Just Lovers Who Are Distrest...
In June 2011, The Atlanta Shakespeare Company presented a production of Lewis Theobald's 18th century play, The Double Falshood. The play is based on manuscripts Theobald discovered relating to a play by John Fletcher and William Shakespeare called Cardenio, long considered to be lost. But was it? There is more than enough evidence that Cardenio was never completely lost - people just forgot what it really was. Last year Arden books made the disappointing decision to release an edition of Th...

Original Practice Theater
A debate on what original practice theater is, and isn't.
There is a theater movement called Original Practice that has largely been applied to performing Shakespeare and other Elizabethan and Stuart plays. My home theater, The New American Shakespeare Tavern, and its resident company, The Atlanta Shakespeare Company, are proud owners of the logo "Original Practice Theater." As much as I love the ASC, this is a point I would debate with them. If you use only a few ideas that were used on the Elizabethan stage, does it make what you do original prac...

An Actor's Master Class - William Hutt
A Legend You Might Not Know...
One of both the joys and problems of encountering a great stage actor in these times is that you must be in his or her presence to feel the full power of what that person brings to the stage. I never had the chance to experience William Hutt in live theater, but if what I experienced seeing him in the Canadian series Slings and Arrows (The third season, King Lear - available on DVD) is even a hundredth of what he was like onstage - oh, what we have missed, those of us who never saw him live. ...