Othello (Bedlam)

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There might be some advantages to a stripped-down version of a William Shakespeare play with fewer characters for small theater companies on a tight budget but Eric Tucker’s Bedlam production of Othello hasn’t found it. Reduced to four actors playing all the roles, this effort reaches its limit when in the last scene after Susannah Hoffman’s Desdemona and Susannah Millonzi’s Emilia lie dead, they have to stand up and become Michael Cassio, formerly lieutenant and now general of the Venetian Army in Cyprus, and Lodovico, emissary from the Venetian court, respectively, as there are no other actors to play these parts. It is also unconvincing watching Ryan Quinn’s Othello dropping his blue button-down shirt to his shoulders as a shawl and playing Bianca, Cassio’s Cyprus girlfriend, when we have just seen him as the hero of Shakespeare’s tragedy. This production demonstrates that Shakespeare’s Othello might be played with six or eight actors, but not four.

At almost three hours, this Othello is quite faithful to the original with some minor cuts. However, with all the necessary doubling and tripling without changing costumes (all of the actors play more than one character other than Tucker’s Iago), the lack of scenery and contemporary costumes, the production is difficult to follow if you don’t know the play very well. Except for a string of colored Christmas lights turned on for one sequence in Cheyenne Sykes’ lighting design, the production offers little in the way of atmosphere and works like a stage reading.

Othello is Shakespeare’s tragedy on the subject of the green-eyed monster, jealousy. Othello, Moorish general to the Venetian army, has eloped with Desdemona, Senator Brabantio’s daughter without his permission. Just at this time Othello has promoted a Venetian aristocrat Michael Cassio to be lieutenant over his ensign Iago. Iago lets us know that he plans to get his revenge on Othello for this supposed slight. First, he provokes Roderigo, a wealthy Venetian gentleman, to rile up Desdemona’s father. When the Turks invade the island of Cyprus, the Duke names Othello to command the Venetian armies and leaves with his new wife, Cassio, Iago and Emilia, Iago’s wife who is Desdemona’s attendant.

On Cyprus, when Othello finds that a storm has destroyed the Turkish fleet, he orders a general celebration. Iago gets Cassio drunk knowing full well that he can not hold his liquor. Cassio become argumentative and provokes a fight which brings Othello out of his lodgings. Since Cassio cannot explain what happened, Othello demotes him. Iago now persuades Othello to be suspicious of Desdemona and Cassio’s relationship (they have known each other since childhood.) When Desdemona drops a handkerchief (Othello’s first gift to her), Emilia finds it and gives it to Iago at his request. Convinced of his wife’s unfaithfulness by Iago, Othello vows to kill her and Cassio, and then makes the treacherous Iago his lieutenant.

Iago then goads Cassio to talk about his girlfriend Bianca in Othello’s presence but whispers her name so softly that Othello thinks he is bragging about an affair with Desdemona. Iago next plants the handkerchief in Cassio’s rooms and when he gives it to Bianca to copy Iago makes certain that Othello sees this as visual proof that Desdemona has been unfaithful. Othello is now all wound up to deal with his jealousy over his wife and her supposed love.

With a cast of only four actors, they ought to be bigger than life but none of them are. Aside from directing the play, Tucker has given himself the best role as Iago. His villain is a suave, ingratiating and urbane confidence man, never raising his voice but knowing how to manipulate people at all times. As Othello, the Moor of Venice, Ryan Quinn’s performance is low-key, not quite the material of a military leader. He is more forceful in the second half, but this is a little too late.

As Desdemona, Susannah Hoffman is convincing in showing her confusion at not being believed by her husband, but is not as convincing showing her passion for him in the first place. (She also plays her father Brabantio and Michael Cassio, her husband’s lieutenant). On the other hand, Susanna Millonzi, a long-time member of Bedlam, makes a feisty, independent woman as Emilia, afraid of her husband but not willing to cross a line she considers immoral. (Millonzi also plays Roderigo, the Duke of Venice, and Lodovico, messenger later sent to Cyrus). As no costume changes are made for the other characters that the actors play, it is often difficult to picture them as other people.

In the first act, the risers are arranged to face the front wall. The actors often stand in a line facing the audience delivering their lines, though they turn their backs to call up to Desdemona’s father Brabantio’s invisible balcony. At the intermission, the audience is asked to give up their seats and the risers are rearranged in a circle so the play becomes theater in the round. This does bring the action closer, but when the actors face away from one section or the other the sound (in Tucker’s design) becomes muffled. Sam Debell’s modern costumes are rather bland in monochromatic colors; they tend to fade into the background.

Bedlam began with small cast versions of Saint Joan, Hamlet and Twelfth Night. Their first smash hit was Kate Hamil’s clever and ingenious adaptation of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility. In recent years Bedlam has staged mash-ups of Uncle Vanya and Romeo and Juliet, and Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra in which scenes from each were alternated but failed to add to the meaning of either. Returning to their initial concept, this four-character version of Othello is good as far as it goes but demonstrates the limits of too abbreviated Shakespeare. The lack of spectacle causes the audience to listen closely but the doubling and tripling leads to confusion as to who is who.

Othello (through May 31, 2026)

Bedlam

West End Theatre, 263 W. 86^th Street, in Manhattan

For tickets, visit http://www.bedlam.org

Running time: two hours and 55 minutes including one intermission