Shakespeare returns to São João Theater with new debut of ‘Othello’
Domestic violence, emancipation of women, murder followed by suicide or jealousy are some of the crimes and sins covered in Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’, the play that premieres on September 28 at the Teatro Nacional São João in Oporto.
‘Othello the Moor of Venice’, a tragedy written by the playwright William Shakespeare, is the first production of this season of 2018/2019 of the National Theater St. John (TNSJ), and takes to the stage on September 28, with the performance of TNSJ’s artistic director, Nuno Carinhas.
The themes that this Shakespearean tragedy is going to address, such as jealousy, betrayal, murder of a woman by her husband, suicide after having discovered that she killed an innocent, or the threat of a father who wants to hit his daughter, are a kind of reflection of what still happens today in Western society, he told journalists Nuno Carinhas at a press conference.
In the “father’s role that may seem more or less innocent in a normal narrative … we feel that threat of popping, that threat of slapping, in an unpleasant and extraordinarily well-done form by the actors, and that’s it – we a society of men to decide the destinies of the country and also of the women, of the children, “describes Carinhas, recognizing that the decision of Desdemona, who faces the father, saying that he respects him, but that he needs to continue his life,” is not an easy circumstance with an audience of only men around, “and these facts remain” a reflection of our society. ”
Nuno Carinhas considered that the cast of this ‘Othello’ is ‘very mature’, a fact that brings to the play “other density” of the conflicts, and everything is “denser”, “more thought”, not having “innocence”, taking the innocence of Desdemona, interpreted by Maria João Pinho, and that makes of daughter of the senator who decides to marry a man of another race and status (Othello), an “open creature” and able to face the father.
Water, the “black water”, is a fundamental element in the scenography of the piece, which is evident in the TNSJ until October 13, because “it mirrors everything that is on the stage”, from the characters to the objects, it still counts the director Nuno Carinhas, revealing that at the end of the piece there will be concave mirrors that will reduce the space of the action on stage, as if it were the room of Othello and Desdemona, where they appear in the mirrors as “monstrous creatures” and “deformed.”
The faint light is another essential point, not least because the action usually takes place at night, explains Carinhas, remembering that many scenes, especially those of great intrigue, unfold on the streets at night.
In addition to Maria João Pinho, the cast is composed of. And Pedro Frias.
‘Otelo’, with translation and scenic version of Daniel Jonas, opens the season of the National Theater São João and marks the return of Nuno Carinhas to Shakespeare, a year after the assembly of “Macbeth”.
