In her 1987 staging of "Othello" at the Market Theater in South Africa, Janet Suzman aimed to make an artistic and cultural statement both politically relevant to the apartheid system and its deep racial underpinnings. Recorded on video for distribution abroad, Suzman's production is unique in both its depiction of sexuality and the placement of Othello, played by John Kani, a small native. South African whose first language is Xhosa. Suzman worked here to both attack an unjust system he despised and overturn the cultural narrative of white supremacy and black savagery that favored it. Say no to plagiarism. Why should violent video games not be banned"? Get an original essay While Othello first appears on stage in Act I, scene ii, his actual introduction to the audience comes slightly later. Suzman redacted much of this scene, leaving it as a brief transition between the inciting incident of the first scene and the showdown in the third scene. Othello's entrance here is very subdued. He glides languidly across the stage with the black-clad Iago, a much more animated figure, who asks him simply, "Pray, sir, / Are you soon married?" while a dramatic and haunting song plays in the background. Othello stops and leans against a wall facing perpendicular to the audience while Iago walks around him. The video cuts to a close-up of Othello's expression. In the first second of the shot, Iago's body moves quickly past Othello's face, briefly obscuring him. Othello slowly tilts his head to the side, then gazes thoughtfully with a single rose held close to his bearded chin. As Othello moves his head, the viewer's attention is drawn to Kani's right eye (in which he is blind), the focus of which does not shift as the actor adjusts his gaze with his left pupil. In the final moment of the shot, Othello smiles broadly, as if his response to Iago, 12 lines into the play's original text, had been converted into a brief series of subtle facial movements. Cassio and some officers suddenly enter from the other side of the stage, illuminated under a dark blue light that covers everyone on stage except Iago and Othello, who are illuminated by a more natural light in the background. An eerie sound of dogs barking resonates beneath the recurring dramatic tension. Othello introduces them as "the Duke's servants and my left-handed man" then descends to the foreground of the stage with Iago, under the consuming blue light. Cassio breathlessly informs Othello of the Duke's call, and Othello's response "I will but say a word here in the house" is accompanied by a congenial smile and a gentle fist bump. Now Othello resurfaces to face Brabantio and his officers. In stark contrast to the dark blue lighting of the first two scenes, the Duke's chamber in Act I, Scene III is lit in rich, light red hues. Fittingly, the scene is reminiscent of a Spanish Inquisition. The Duke's throne, a symbol of both power and judgment, is the central physical element of the setting. Flashlights mounted on the side walls create frenetic shadow plays as the characters move around the back of the stage. The anonymous senators wear identical crimson robes, reminiscent of a cardinal's robes. The color of the spare furniture in the Duke's room also matches that of the cardinals' dress. This is precisely the atmosphere in which Suzman chose to place the dramatic introduction of Othello. Having eliminated most of Othello's dialogue in the previous two scenes, and having smothered the actor's appearance in those scenes with dim blue lighting, Suzman heightenedthe significance of Othello's introduction fully illuminated before the Duke's court and before the audience. Othello's arrival is introduced with an abrupt "Here comes the moor", as Kani positions himself in the foreground in front of the Duke's throne. After listening to Brabantio's desperate hysteria, the Duke sits down and the men gather like jurors in two rows on either side of him. When finally asked to testify in his own defense, Othello pauses dramatically and turns first to Cassio, then finally to the Duke. At the beginning of his speech, Kani pronounces each word with a slow, deliberate inflection, his accent unmistakable in the sharp cadence and distinct pronunciation of his speech: "Most [beat] PO-tent [beat] grAve [beat] and rev-rend [beat] gentlemen." With grace and diplomacy then, Othello pleads his case before the Duke's people, who have accused him of the crimes of both dark magic and miscegenation, and before the South African public itself. The seriousness of these accusations was not lost on Suzman or the public. at the moment. Suzman, discussing the history of its production, wrote about the repeal of the Immorality Act, an infamous apartheid law banning relationships between whites and non-whites, just a few years before his play was staged. In this context, the stern Duke and his senators were effectively portrayed as symbols of the inquisition in the apartheid South African state. Likewise, Kani, whose accent differs markedly from that of every other actor in the show, by the conclusion of this scene has strongly identified with black South Africans who face distrust and oppression from state institutions. In African Othello, the audience is also introduced to the play's relatively heavy sexual content in scene iii. Under Iago's gaze, Othello and Desdemona share an intense kiss, the length and meaning of which are emphasized in the film version of the play by a break in the shot, shot from a different angle, in which the camera quickly zooms in on the faces of the couple. Mutual expressions of lust such as these are prominent in many later scenes. For example, upon Othello's entrance in Act II, scene i, he descends a staircase while Desdemona ascends to meet him; the film version records the intimacy of their constant approaches with alternating shots from the two's points of view. They embrace and Othello soon kisses Desdemona's neck and left ear before the two share another long kiss; as a result, Iago turns to the audience and nods with an expression of cynicism and disgust. In Act III, scene iii, Othello, now made anxious and suspicious of his wife by Iago, kisses Desdemona by surprise with animated intensity. The lush sexuality and mutual affection between Desdemona and Othello displayed in Suzman's production trivializes anxieties. about interracial relationships held by many white South Africans. By emphasizing this vivid physical romance so early, Suzman foregrounds the intimacy between the two and signals to the audience that the raw sexuality between Othello and Desdemona is an overarching theme of their relationship and of the play itself. By starkly displaying this sexuality at the beginning of the show, Suzman immediately removes the question of whether or not relationships between a black man and a white woman can be considered "moral" or "right" and forces the audience to consider why this kiss might be considered offensive or vulgar in some circles of South African society. Therefore, the show works to expose the absurdity of these views. There is also the intention to use art to challenge these regressive social customs. Suzman wrote about his desire for an opera.