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Synopsis:As the wrongly accused and suffering wife of Shakespeare's tragic Moor, Othello, Desdemona has long been outfitted as the "victim of circumstance." But as Paula Vogel demonstrates in her comic deconstruction of Shakespeare's play, Desdemona was far from the quivering naif we've all come to know. Open about having slept with Othello's entire encampment, and using her carnality like a poker chip, Desdemona struts like a sorority queen, trades places with prostitutes for overnight thrills, and revels over her bawdy tales of conquest with the other integral, and now re-imagined, women of this Shakespeare tragedy: Emilia, Desdemona's servant and the wife of Iago, and Bianca, now a majestic whore of Cyprus. Ever mindful, though, that the one man with whom Desdemona hasn't slept with is the one for whom she'll die, Vogel's play aligns its tongue in cheek humour with the seriousness of a modern inquiry: what were the roles women had to play then, and still have to play now? Desdemona isn't exactly a two-timing strumpet--rather, she's a bored young woman who wants to travel and see the world. Since Othello won't let her leave Cyprus, she comes up with her own private version of frequent-flyer miles by sleeping with a lot of world-wise strangers and imagining all of the exotic places they've been.

Scenic concept: This revision of Othello is set in the back laundry room of the palace. Scenery is very sparse, the stage island-like, isolating DesDemona and Emilia. A ratty curtain represents the exit into the outside world and the clean one, an entrance into the palace. Fabric is an important theme through-out the play. It's DesDemona's handkerchief that Iago uses to fuel Othello's jealousy, and results in DesDemona's murder. Married men at this time choose to display their blood soaked bridal sheets after their wives' maidenheads are taken. DesDemona reveals that she wasn't exactly virginal at the time and she had to use chicken blood to fake Othello. DesDemona and Bianca also get into a fight behind the hanging laundry and Bianca shatters a wine bottle. The red wine splatters the laundered sheets making Emilia believe it's blood.
In the end, the laundry room serves as a safe zone for DesDemona and Emilia. A place for them to speak their private thoughts. The audience knows that once they leave the room, they become subject to Shakespeare's world again, the one where both of them are murdered.