A Slow Descent into Darkness Berkeley's "Othello" Evokes a Creeping Aura of Terror
Sacramento Bee
Evil, once set into motion, may outstrip its author. So does the foul plot nurtured by the snake Iago
eventually consume not only his intended victims but himself. It's a harrowing process in the Berkeley Shakespeare
Festival's slow-to-build (but worth it) production of "Othello," which opened Friday in John Hinkel Park. Peter A. Jacobs,
as Iago, drives the action of the tragedy, at first giving his machinations little more weight than mean-spirited practical
jokes. For all the soldier's professed hatred, he seems a casually contemptible sort, hardly dangerous. It makes it all the
more horrifying as he scores well-aimed wounds upon his master's confidence. They fester until Othello's imagination is
gripped with fever and we in the audience are racked with chills. It's as if director Michael Addison paced the play to
the evening starting time of 7 p.m. When Iago first complains of not being promoted by Othello, when he promises he'll
win away the general's wife for the lovesick gentleman Roderigo, it is still bright out. Midnight passions seem remote.
By the time the Venetians arrive in Cypress, where Iago plants the seeds of jealousy in the noble Moor, the sun is
setting. Othello's murderous affliction descends like darkness. Even the original music by John Geist, performed by the
Samaria String Quartet, grows in intensity with the hour. Early on, it feels intrusive, an out-of-place Hollywood
affectation. By Desdemona's death scene, it is part of the urgent, terrible atmosphere.
In full night, horror is upon the Moor who loved, and trusted, not wisely but too well. Bob Devin Jones, familiar from his
roles with the Sacramento Theatre Company, plays Othello in a performance that also grows in power. He portrays the
black general as a foreigner undone by emotional isolation. (Among the much-debated reasons for Iago's hatred of the
general - denial of promotion, rumor of a dalliance with Mrs. Iago - we can't discount bald racial bias. After all, for all that
he desired Othello as a dinner guest, Desdemona's father is horrified to have him as son-in-law.)
An accomplished warrior and leader, Othello is at ease with the ways of his adopted brothers, the Venetians, but only
to a point. Once Iago introduces the seed of doubt, once Othello's happy trust in his loyal young wife is broken, so is his
veneer of Christian, European, Renaissance reason. By play's end he has plucked away the crucifix that hung on his
chest and reverted to Moslem prayer, to a culture in which justice is harsh and honor requires vengeance.
Like Jacobs, Jones is disarmingly low-keyed at first, but not so subtle that he fails to satisfy the high passion of those
late, volcanic speeches, grappling with jealousy, murderous rage and finally, awful remorse. The play is well-acted
all-around. Robin Goodrin Nordli is a heart-rending Desdemona, especially in her fearful bewilderment at her powerful
husband's sudden displeasure. Lura Dolas is superb as Iago's wife, who gets the handkerchief the villain uses to "prove"
Desdemona's unfaithfulness. With eyes and body language she explains exactly the fear that keeps her silent when that
snatched token causes pain to her beloved mistress. John Bellucci makes Roderigo a funny and pathetic victim of his
own lust and Iago's cruelty, but worthy of mourning. And Douglas Sills is fully three-dimensional as Cassio, the lieutenant
whom Iago frames as Desdemona's accused lover. That wholeness is especially laudable when characters are so
completely honorable, as are Desdemona and Cassio, or dishonorable, as with Iago. Addison and his cast present a
Renaissance Venice and Cypress that feel familiar, peopled by solid, everyday types and undershot with everyday
insecurities. Who among us hasn't felt alienated or paranoid, as if the rules by which we lived might suddenly have
changed when we weren't paying attention? It's so much more frightening, then, when those familiar insecurities are
whipped by clever malice into murderous passion that takes on a life of its own. Even Iago is surprised by the scope of
the evil. The triumph of this production is that we are surprised too, surprised into terror and pity.
-Peter Haugen, Sacramento Bee
July 9, 1990
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