Othello | |
---|---|
Directed by | Liz White |
Based on | Othello by William Shakespeare |
Produced by | Liz White |
Starring | Yaphet Kotto Richard Dixon Audrey Dixon Lewis Chisholm, Jr. Olive Bowles Douglas Gray Liz White Benjamin Ashburn Jim Williams |
Cinematography | Charles Dorkins |
Music by | Jonas Gwangwa |
Release date |
|
Running time | 115 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $200,000 USD |
Othello is Liz White's dramatic adaptation of William Shakespeare's Othello . An all black cast and crew, including actor Yaphet Kotto, created the film. [1]
Yaphet Kotto as Othello
Benjamin Ashburn as Montano
Olive Bowles as Emilia
Louis Chisholm, Jr. as Cassio
Audrey Dixon as Desdemona
Richard Dixon as Iago
Douglas Gray as Roderigo
Lincoln Pope as Duke of Venice
Liz White as Bianca
Jim Williams as Brabantio
White's Othello began as an acclaimed performance in 1960-1961 at Shearer Summer Theater, White's own repository company on Martha's Vineyeard, and in 1960 in Harlem. [2] [3] [4] Shearer began the repository with a mission to create more roles for the black actors and more jobs for black theater technicians. The entire cast and crew of the film are black.
With help from Charles Dorkins, White directed the film over the summers from 1962-1966. Most involved with the project were students or maintained part- or full-time jobs during filming—even White worked as a stage dresser during production. [5] [6] The film was further delayed when Yaphet Kotto began his Hollywood movie career. [7]
White herself played Bianca and she enlisted her son and daughter-in-law, Richard and Audrey Dixon, as Iago and Desdemona. [8]
The film did not screen until 1980, when it had its official debut at Howard University. In White's biography in the promotion materials for the debut, it reads: "[Liz] works out of her apartment in the Dunbar complex in Harlem and at the editing space she rents in the Screen Building on Broadway. She is cutting and editing a print of her feature length film, "Othello", sleeping on the studio floor some nights." [9] The film's release was in part due to White's reluctance to label the film an "art" film. She attempted to market the film to various studios, including Warner Brothers. [10] It has never been released commercially. [11]
The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice, often shortened to Othello, is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare around 1603. Set in Venice and Cyprus, the play depicts the Moorish military commander Othello as he is manipulated by his ensign, Iago, into suspecting his wife Desdemona of infidelity. Othello is widely considered one of Shakespeare's greatest works and is usually classified among his major tragedies alongside Macbeth, King Lear, and Hamlet. Unpublished in the author's life, the play survives in one quarto edition from 1622 and in the First Folio.
Otello is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play Othello. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on 5 February 1887.
Iago is a fictional character in Shakespeare's Othello. Iago is the play's main antagonist, and Othello's standard-bearer. He is the husband of Emilia who is in turn the attendant of Othello's wife Desdemona. Iago hates Othello and devises a plan to destroy him by making him believe that Desdemona is having an affair with his lieutenant, Michael Cassio.
Yaphet Frederick Kotto was an American actor for film and television. He starred in the NBC television series Homicide: Life on the Street (1993–1999) as Lieutenant Al Giardello. His films include the science-fiction horror film Alien (1979), the neo-noir action thriller Across 110th Street (1972), the science-fiction action film The Running Man (1987), the James Bond film Live and Let Die (1973) in which he portrayed the main villain Dr. Kananga, and the action comedy Midnight Run (1988).
O is a 2001 American romantic thriller film, and a modern adaptation of William Shakespeare's Othello, set in an American high school. It stars Mekhi Phifer, Julia Stiles, and Josh Hartnett. It was directed by Tim Blake Nelson and written by Brad Kaaya. The film contains many different styles of music, ranging from rap to opera. It was filmed in Charleston, South Carolina in the spring of 1999. Originally intended for release for October 17, 1999, it was shelved following the Columbine High School massacre; O was finally released on August 31, 2001. The film grossed $16 million at the United States box office, which was seen by distributor Lions Gate Films as a "box office success".
Across 110th Street is a 1972 American neo noir action thriller film directed by Barry Shear and starring Yaphet Kotto, Anthony Quinn, Anthony Franciosa and Paul Benjamin. The film is set in Harlem, New York and takes its name from 110th Street, the traditional dividing line between Harlem and Central Park that functioned as an informal boundary of race and class in 1970s New York City.
Othello is a 1965 film based on the National Theatre Company's staging of Shakespeare's Othello (1964-1966) staged by John Dexter. Directed by Stuart Burge, the film stars Laurence Olivier, Maggie Smith, Joyce Redman, and Frank Finlay, who all received Oscar nominations, and provided film debuts for both Derek Jacobi and Michael Gambon.
Othello is a 1951 tragedy directed and produced by Orson Welles, who also adapted the Shakespearean play and played the title role. Recipient of the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film at the 1952 Cannes Film Festival, the film was distributed by United Artists when it was released in the United States in 1955. Othello was filmed on location over a three-year period in Morocco, Venice, Tuscany and Rome as well as at the Scalera Studios in Rome.
Raymond Fearon is a British actor. He played garage mechanic Nathan Cooper on ITV's long-running soap opera Coronation Street and voiced the centaur Firenze in the Wizarding World film series Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts.
Othello is a tragic play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1603.
The Shakespeare Theatre Company is a regional theatre company located in Washington, D.C. The theatre company focuses primarily on plays from the Shakespeare canon, but its seasons include works by other classic playwrights such as Euripides, Ibsen, Wilde, Shaw, Schiller, Coward and Tennessee Williams. The company manages and performs in two spaces: The Michael R. Klein Theatre and Sidney Harman Hall. In cooperation with George Washington University, they run the STC Academy.
Othello is a 1995 drama film based on William Shakespeare's tragedy of the same name. It was directed by Oliver Parker and stars Laurence Fishburne as Othello, Irène Jacob as Desdemona, and Kenneth Branagh as Iago. This is the first cinematic reproduction of the play released by a major studio that casts an African American actor to play the role of Othello, although low-budget independent films of the play starring Ted Lange and Yaphet Kotto predated it.
Barbara Mary Jefford, OBE was a British actress, best known for her theatrical performances with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Old Vic and the National Theatre and her role as Molly Bloom in the 1967 film of James Joyce's Ulysses.
Othello is the titular protagonist in Shakespeare's Othello. The character's origin is traced to the tale "Un Capitano Moro" in Gli Hecatommithi by Giovanni Battista Giraldi Cinthio. There, he is simply referred to as the Moor.
Jarum Halus is a 2008 Malaysian drama film. It is a modern-day adaptation of William Shakespeare's Othello. The film's title is derived from a Malay idiom meaning web of deceit or conspiracy, which is a major theme in the plot of the film.
Catch My Soul is a rock musical produced by Jack Good, loosely adapted from Shakespeare's Othello. The character of Iago had originally been played by Jerry Lee Lewis in the US production which had closed in 1968. The UK production of the show was a showcase for the talents of Lance LeGault, P. P. Arnold, P.J. Proby and an introduction to the rock musician Robert Tench with the band Gass.
Othello is a 1990 film produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company, starring Ian McKellen, Willard White, Imogen Stubbs, and Zoë Wanamaker. It is based on a stage production of William Shakespeare's play Othello, directed by Trevor Nunn, and later rethought for TV and filmed in a studio. It was shot in a black box theater, so minimal props or scenery were needed, and aired 23 June 1990 on Theatre Night.
Elizabeth 'Liz' Shearer White was an American independent film producer and founder of the Shearer Summer Theatre in Martha's Vineyard. She is known for her stage production of Shakespeare's Othello with an all-black cast, which she eventually filmed and released as a movie in 1980 at Howard University.
In addition to its appearance in the theatre, the character of Othello from the tragic play by William Shakespeare has appeared in many examples in art and culture since being authored by Shakespeare in the early 16th century.