Otello captures caprices of human nature

Baritone Ko Seong-hyun, left, playing Iago, and tenor Clifton Forbis, playing Otello, rehearse the opera “Otello” at the Opera House of the Seoul Arts Center, Tuesday. / Courtesy of the Korea National Opera

By Kwon Ji-youn

One of William Shakespeare’s four great tragedies, “Othello” is a probing literary exploration into the destructive powers of jealousy and distrust.

Venetian military General Otello is valiant yet flawed, and watching the protagonist crumble at the hands of a true villain after succumbing to the ever so human emotion of jealousy has kept audiences enthralled all these years. And Giuseppe Verdi’s operatic performance “Otello” doesn’t fall short.

In the Korea National Opera’s (KNO) version, Otello is all the more identifiable and pitiful alongside a conspiring and heinous Iago. Otello begins a military hero, but is driven insane when he is persuaded by his jealousy-ridden ensign Iago that his wife is having an affair with the general’s lieutenant, Cassio. Otello ends up killing his wife out of hurt and betrayal, and himself, out of guilt and repentance.

All aspects of the KNO’s Otello, including staging, costumes, orchestration and characters, play up Otello’s psychological transformation.

Director Stephen Lawless’s adaptation of Otello is perched precariously on the boundary between good and evil, a man thirsty for love but easily swayed. His initial heroic and doting portrayal only accentuates the extent of his psychological instability as the protagonist is led to madness over Desdemona’s alleged betrayal.

The production features tenors Clifton Forbis and Rudy Park as Otello. Forbis’ ringing tone and authoritative, commanding stance makes him a compelling Otello, adding emphasis to his ultimate disintegration and demise. Park, new to the role, will put on an Otello of his own interpretation, an Otello who, as he dies, clings to the hope that his love for Desdemona remains alive.

Sopranos Serena Farnocchia and Kim Eun-ju take on the role of Desdemona, whose beauty and devotion to her husband is reflected well in Farnocchia’s unforced, soft yet substantial voice. Desdemona is a rare character that comes close to being ideal in a production that features more characters that are deeply flawed.

In many versions of the tragic opera, Iago takes on a weightier role than in the play, and the KNO’s performance is no different. Iago, portrayed by baritones Ko Seong-hyun and Woo Ju-ho, fills each scene with compulsive action. Lawless says in his director’s note that Iago is the character that sets Verdi’s Otello apart from Shakespeare’s Othello.

“Arrigo Boito, writer of the libretti for Verdi’s Otello, stuck by Shakespeare’s play, but at the same time, strengthened the character of Iago through his credo (creed),” Lawless writes. “Iago’s hatred for Otello was not because of Otello’s favoring of Cassio over himself, but because after death, there cannot be revenge. To Iago, God is cruel, death is nothingness and so why be an honest man?”

But even with Iago offstage, there is much to see onstage. The stage is simply yet handsomely designed by Benoit Dugardyn, with a Martello tower sitting center-stage, opening and closing in line with Otello’s mentality as it goes from gallant and joyous to reflecting a sense of inferiority. The costumes bring together the classic and modern while the supporting actors compactly fill any striking gaps.

The vocals of less weighty characters like Roderigo may fall short of the grand and imposing performance by the Korean Symphony Orchestra led by conductor Graeme Jenkins. The expertly annotated orchestration begins and ends in fervor, from the prelude that rages like a storm to the tragic death of Otello.

Otello will be staged at the Opera House of Seoul Arts Center from Nov. 6 through 9 in honor of the 450th anniversary of the birth of Shakespeare.