Othello

About the play: It is wartime. Cyprus is threatened with an attack by the Turkish fleet. The Venetian rulers send their best man, the dark-skinned general Othello, to defend the island. But the Turkish ships are caught in a storm and sunk. Celebrated as victors, Othello enters Cyprus with his retinue. Among them is Iago, a war comrade and subordinate of Othello consumed by vengeance and jealousy. He not only envies Othello's professional success and his marriage to the younger and aristocratic Desdemona, but also suspects him of having had an affair with his own wife, Emilia. He receives support from Rodrigo, a man unhappily in love with Desdemona, who shares Iago's racist resentment against Othello. Seeking revenge, Iago devises a plan to destroy Othello and whispers to him that the disgraced Michael Cassio was all too close to Desdemona. The seeds of jealousy fall on fertile ground. Othello becomes increasingly entangled in Iago's web of intrigue and lies, and when a handkerchief, Othello's token of love for Desdemona, turns up in Cassio's possession, the decision for the supposedly cuckolded Othello is made: Desdemona must die.

Love, hate, jealousy, betrayal, and defensiveness towards the so-called "stranger" intertwine in a perfectly orchestrated drama, plunging them into the inevitable abyss. In a new translation and our own unique stage aesthetic, the musicality and virtuosity of the actors are showcased with ease, rapid transformations, and emotional intensity. Shakespeare becomes relevant and directly accessible: yesterday becomes today, old becomes new, tragedy and wit intertwine, and you will experience the Shakespeare Company Berlin, as always, as a passionately energetic ensemble that deeply moves, entertains, and ignites the audience.
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