Othello: Acting Act V

Othello: Acting Act V: Performance date Wednesday, March 25

Here is breakdown of the final scenes of Othello. Take note of the actors required. Each Acting Company has an extra actor or two, so split up longer roles so that EVERYONE has at least one line to say!

Acting Company 1

5.1 Under cover of darkness, Iago kills Roderigo but only wounds Cassio.

LINES: Iago, 82; Roderigo, 11; Cassio, 17; Grantiano, 10; Lodovico, 9; Bianca, 7; Emilia, 5; Othello, 10

STUDENTS: Diana, Claire, Dagmawi, Daniel, Elizabeth, Rachel, Ricardo, Emily, Gil

Acting Company 2

5.2.1-174 Othello murders Desdemona; Emilia enters and discovers this.

LINES: Othello, 120; Desdemona, 43; Emilia 40

STUDENTS: Richard, Julie, Jackie Schaeffer, Pavan

Acting Company 3

5.2.175-290 Montano, Gratiano, and Iago arrive. Emilia tells the truth about the handkerchief and Iago kills her.

LINES: Montano, 7; Emilia, 48; Grantiano, 14; Iago, 9; Othello, 48

STUDENTS: Jaime, Mosammat, Jackie Uy, Brendan, Ellen, Pablo

Acting Company 4

5.2.291-382 Lodovico and Cassio arrive. Othello, realizing his terrible error, kills himself.

Lodovico 40; Othello 39; Iago, 3; Cassio, 14; Gratiano 1

STUDENTS: Josey, Janice, Seth, Jin Uk, Thomas

1. Discuss who will take a leadership role, and appoint that person as your director. Let the director cast roles.

1. Read through the scene aloud, at least once, preferably twice. Decide collectively on the cuts, and make the cuts right away. Your scene should take no longer than 10 minutes to perform. Read the scene aloud AFTER you’ve made cuts, timing yourselves, and making necessary adjustments. Allow extra time – performing a scene should take longer than just reading it.

1. Talk about the characters – what does each want in this scene? Do his or her desires change or shift during the scene? How does he or she speak? How does he or she move? This is to be a more polished performance than the ones you’ve done previously in class. Give special attention to movement and memorize your lines. (You may decide to go back and do additional cutting!)

1. Each student is responsible for paraphrasing a portion of the script, and for writing a justification for cutting specific lines or keeping lines intact. Fairly divide the lines for this task. It’s not fair for someone with a big part to do more paraphrasing or explaining about cuts.

1. Prepare your prompt book – this will have the dialogue, paraphrases and cuts, along with the actors’ movements, stage business and line readings as appropriate.

1. Plan costumes and props. These don’t have to be fancy, but should show that you took the trouble to think about what would best convey the impressions you want to make.

1. Appoint a PROMPTER (someone who stays with the prompt book and prompts actors when they forget a line)!! Establish clear signals about how prompting will be handled.

Special warning: Professional actors are trained in stage-combat so that they can make a death or fight look dangerous and real when it is in fact SAFE and CAREFULLYREHEARSED. Students playing Othello and Desdemona will have to figure out a very safe way to stage the death. Desdemona can turn her face to the side and Othello can push the pillow against the back of Desdemona’s head. SAFETY IS THE FIRST PRIORITY.