It is not easy to say “Othello,” now playing at the Shakespeare Theatre’s Harman Hall, is one of the two best plays I have ever seen, but it is. Firstly, it was my first visit to the spacious Harman Hall and I was in awe with its modern grandeur.

Secondly, after seeing my second Shakespeare play, I understand why at even my Black high school, English teachers would proclaim the Bard of Avon the greatest playwright of all times.

The Bard wrote his plays between 1589 and 1613. However, watching his plays are not like absorbing a history lesson, but a reminder that English writers who came after him often simply updated his plots and that human behavior has not changed much across time and geography.

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I have been planning to read more of James Baldwin’s work, but I will have to add Shakespeare and seeing more of his plays at the Shakespeare Theatre.

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"Othello" is about jealously between co-workers, mixed marriages, deceitors, and instigators.

The drama starts with Roderigo hating Othello because Othello has promoted Cassio, Roderigo's colleague, to lieutenant instead of him. Similarly, in “Fair Play” (2023), Luke allows his romantic relationship with Emily to turn into jealousy, bitterness, and shame when she, not he, gets a promotion. 

Desdemona, who is Venetian, is forced to tell the Senate that she married Othello, a Moor, for love and her duty is now to him rather than her father. The Bard precedes “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” (1967) by more than 350 years.

In “Othello,” Othello leaves Cassio and Iago in charge of a victory party and Iago, the deceitor, convinces Cassio to drink. With Cassio clearly drunk, Iago tells Montano “I fear the trust Othello puts him in” and secretly sends Roderigo to provoke Cassio to fight. The fight leads to Othello saying “Cassio, I love thee, but never more be officer of mine.”

Lago recalls the character Endora, Samantha’s mother in the TV 1960s American sitcom “Bewitched.” The one problem with Othello, is that unlike Samantha, he never recognizes his instigator and to never ask, “Who put you up to this, I bet it was mother.”

One day, in “Othello,” Desdemona drops her special handkerchief. Left alone, Emilia picks it up, telling the audience, ‘My wayward husband hath a hundred times wooed me to steal it’. Iago, her husband, returns and takes it from her. He tells the audience that he will plant the handkerchief in Cassio’s room, hoping it will provide further ‘proof’ of Cassio’s affair with Desdemona.

The handkerchief is essentially the briefcase in the movie “Pulp Fiction.” Both are the object everyone pursues, but what matters is not the object itself, but what it represents to the characters.

In the backdrop of “Othello” is a war Venice is fighting against the Ottoman Empire, often referred to in the play as the “Turks.” The effects of the Empire are often underplayed in western history, current western news, and Shakespeare’s documenting its significance in his storytelling.

Complementing Shakespeare’s timeless storytelling and the comfortable Theatre were the props; lighting; modern, appropriate costuming; sound; and set design. Adding to the seamless pleasure was the choreography and casting - - including Wendell Pierce as Othello.

“Othello” will now share with “The Corn is Green,” specifically with Cicecly Tyson, as the best plays I have seen. I have been planning to read more of James Baldwin’s work, but I will have to add Shakespeare and seeing more of his plays at the Shakespeare Theatre.

The plays are more than entertaining, they are opportunities for writers and readers to explore story telling techniques what has worked for centuries and helps explain many contemporary stories.

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