Shakespeare were first rehearsed in a D.C. public high school English class, and performed successfully at the Folger Shakespeare Library’s annual Secondary School Shakespeare Festival. The players were not necessarily “actor types.” For many of them, this was their first performance in a play.
Something almost miraculous happens when students perform Shakespeare. They “get” it. By occupying the characters and speaking the words out loud, students gain a level of understanding and appreciation that is unachievable by simply reading the text. That is the magic of a performance-based method of learning Shakespeare, and this book makes the formerly daunting task of staging a Shakespeare play possible for anybody.
With The 30-Minute Shakespeare book series I hope to help teachers and students produce a Shakespeare play in a short amount of time, thus jump-starting the process of discovering the beauty, magic, and fun of the Bard. Plot, theme, and language reveal themselves through the performance of these half-hour play cuttings, and everybody involved receives the priceless gift of “owning” a piece of Shakespeare. The result is an experience that is fun and engaging, and one that we can all carry with us as we play out our own lives on the stages of the world.
NICK NEWLIN
Brandywine, MD
March 2010
CHARACTERS IN THE PLAY
The following is a list of the characters that appear in this cutting of Othello.
Twenty-eight actors performed in the original production. This number can be increased to about thirty or decreased to about fifteen by having actors share or double roles.
For the full breakdown of characters, see Sample Program.
IAGO: An ensign and villain; husband to Emilia
RODERIGO: A gullible gentleman trying to woo Desdemona
BRABANTIO: A senator; father to Desdemona
DUKE: Duke of Venice, a great admirer of Othello
MESSENGER
FIRST SENATOR: A senator in the council chamber
DESDEMONA: Wife to Othello, daughter to Brabantio
CASSIO: An honorable lieutenant
MONTANO: Governor of Cyprus
LODOVICO: A noble Venetian, brother to Brabantio
EMILIA: Wife to Iago
BIANCA: A courtesan
SOLDIERS
SINGERS
NARRATOR
Venice. A street.
STAGEHANDS set bench center stage, downstage of pillars.
SOUND OPERATOR plays Sound Cue #1, (“Ominous music”).
Enter BRABANTIO from stage left, lying down on bench to sleep.
Enter NARRATOR from stage rear, coming downstage center.
NARRATOR
In the streets of Venice, Roderigo and Iago inform
the Senator, Brabantio, of his daughter Desdemona’s
secret marriage to Othello. Enraged, Brabantio sets
out in search of his daughter.
Exit NARRATOR stage right.
Enter IAGO and RODERIGO from stage left.
IAGO
Call up her father,
Rouse him, poison his delight.
RODERIGO
What ho, Brabantio! Signior Brabantio, ho!
IAGO
Awake! Brabantio! Look to your daughter!
BRABANTIO awakes. He stands on bench and looks down, as though from a balcony.
BRABANTIO
What is the matter there?
IAGO
’Zounds, sir! Even now, now, very now, an old black
ram is tupping your white ewe. You’ll have your
daughter covered with a Barbary horse, you’ll have
your nephews neigh to you! Your daughter and the
Moor are making the beast with two backs.
BRABANTIO
Give me a taper. Call up my people. Light, I say,
light!
Exit ALL stage right.
STAGEHANDS remove bench and place table, set with maps, downstage center.
Venice. A council-chamber.
Enter NARRATOR from stage rear, coming downstage center.
NARRATOR
The Duke, preparing for a Turkish invasion of Cyprus, welcomes the arrival of Othello and Brabantio. Brabantio announces his dismay at Desdemona’s marriage to Othello. Iago begins to outline his plot to use Cassio in order to make Othello jealous.
Enter DUKE and FIRST SENATOR from stage left. They move
