Frantic Assembly are a physical theatre group who aim to create energetic, thrilling work that reflects contemporary culture. They are led by Artistic Director Scott Graham, who, along with two colleagues, founded the group in 1994. After focusing for a number of years on gritty, modern theatre, Scott decided to take the group in a new direction - contemporary Shakespeare. After some deliberation, the group decided on “Othello” as their first Shakespearean piece, and decided to set it in West Yorkshire, 2001, due to its renowned racial issues. In order to contextualise the large body of work that is Othello into a short, modern performance was daunting; however by taking out elements that challenged their interpretation, Frantic Assembly managed to reduce the play to 100 minutes.
Although the original story of Othello is largely based around its namesake character, Frantic decided …show more content…
As previously mentioned, centre stage there was a large, movable pool table, which was used throughout the play to give focus and direction to the characters’ movement. It created a divide between the scenes; in one it was a romanticised bed in which Desdemona and Othello make love, and eventually die on, and in another it was central to the bar brawl, creating a violent side to it. In addition, it created platforms, ledges and was open to interpretation for the characters to generate their own ideas.
The surrounding pool cues were crucial to the storyline due to their interchangeable uses. They were used as weapons in the brawls, instruments to accentuate a point, as well as representing, in certain scenes, a metaphor for male genitalia. They also furthered the theme of racism, for amongst all of the wood-coloured cues, there was one plain black cue, used by Othello only, showing him to be separate from the rest of the
Although the original story of Othello is largely based around its namesake character, Frantic decided …show more content…
As previously mentioned, centre stage there was a large, movable pool table, which was used throughout the play to give focus and direction to the characters’ movement. It created a divide between the scenes; in one it was a romanticised bed in which Desdemona and Othello make love, and eventually die on, and in another it was central to the bar brawl, creating a violent side to it. In addition, it created platforms, ledges and was open to interpretation for the characters to generate their own ideas.
The surrounding pool cues were crucial to the storyline due to their interchangeable uses. They were used as weapons in the brawls, instruments to accentuate a point, as well as representing, in certain scenes, a metaphor for male genitalia. They also furthered the theme of racism, for amongst all of the wood-coloured cues, there was one plain black cue, used by Othello only, showing him to be separate from the rest of the