Retelling a Shakespearean tragedy isn’t easy. With so much history and tradition, you tread a fine line between over-reverence for previous interpretations and accusations of taking too many liberties with your fresh take.
But when your setting is the gorgeous Fort Canning, you have an audience already predisposed to think good things. And our expectations on a visit this week were certainly high. Director Bruce Guthrie, in a full interview, had earlier told us, “We want the audience to walk away from the show feeling like they have had a great value for money and an excellent night’s entertainment.” Which, when you strip away centuries of preceonceptions and high-falutin critics, is what Shakespeare has always been about.
The container boxes that make up the stage set-up might seem rather mundane, and not quite in keeping with the tagline to this year’s Shakespeare in the Park, “Bigger and Bolder”, but as dusk descended and the surrounding lights went down, we were quickly hooked. The discourse was engaging and the cast, which includes a mix of local and international talent, was convincing—aided by the juicy plot, of course.
The oft-performed play centers around the well-respected and decorated general Othello—referred to in the play as The Moor of Venice—and his eventual downfall arising from his scheming and jealous ensign Iago. The lovely Desdemona, daughter of statesman Brabantio, is embroiled in Iago’s plot against Othello and… well, no spoilers here. Suffice it to say that this is a fresh and invigorating take on the Bard’s classic, with some clever surprises in store, including a live point-of-view camera in a scintillating fight scene, and the presence of an Audi A5 revving across stage. How you feel about that depends on what think of product placement in general; but with James Bond now drinking Heineken, it’s probably too late to bemoan the commercialization of art.
The standing ovation for the cast at the end was certainly well-deserved. The play evoked genuine laughs and moments of awe throughout the night. Bruce Guthrie and the good people at Singapore Repertory Theatre certainly lived up to their promise of an entertaining night—container boxes for a stage or not.
Shakespeare in the Park—Othello is on through May 19, 7:30pm at Fort Canning Park.
