I hope to make it by to see the Tennessee Shakespeare Company’s Othello in its second weekend. I’ve got to admit, when the company’s visionary director Dan McCleary described the play as “holy” my expectations sank a bit. When classics become “holy” theater becomes church in the most institutional sense of the word and Othello, a play about lust jealousy, revenge, and evil for its own sake, is anything but. This is one of my favorite tragedies and I missed it when Theatre Memphis staged it a few years back. All Bard-worship aside I’m really looking forward to this one.
Othello is at St. Georges Episcopal through October 17. Call 759-0604 for more information.
I’ll have more about Joe Turner’s Come and Gone in next week’s Memphis Flyer. The Hattiloo Theatre has assembled a great cast, but there doesn’t seem to be any cohesive vision for how this lively show set in a black boarding house during the great migration, should play itself out.
When I dropped by the Hattiloo last week there wasn’t much of an audience at all. “It’s a drama you know,” said one of the folks working the box office. It made for an interesting contrast to the sold out production of Edward Albee’s A Delicate Balance across town at Theatre Memphis.
This week I’m dropping in on Stuff Happens, David Hare’s controversial play about America’s military adventure in Iraq at the U of M. This one’s kind of exciting.
