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The Red and Black. Thursday. May 3. 1979
Page II
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PARKING
LOT
barbecue at its best
£~~1 PIG PATH t v
BRUMBY
HALL
PIG TRACKS EXPRESS PIZZA
JIMB03-J
Follow
your
nose-
Make tracks up
the Pig Path...
Buy Superb
Meat and get one
ofour’4.50
T-Shirts for M.80I
BAXTER STREET
Wouldn’t you rather
make a basket
than push one?
Why spend your free time buying groceries? Fixing meals? At Ogle
thorpe House we spend our free time playing ball, swimming in the
pool...doing what we like to do. At meal time we simply walk into the
cafeteria, have a seat and enjoy a good meal. Take your choice of a 15 or 19
meal-a-week plan with all the seconds you want. You can't beat that!
Paul Winfield
as Othello
and Richard
Dreyfuss
as Iago
monumentalize
Shakespeare's
play
mountains.
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• 5*/2 Weeks (11 June-19 July or 9 July-16 August 1979)
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• Adventure
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Army w 11 conduct a 5' 2 week Basic Camp at Fort Knox. Kentucky, during the period 11
June-19 July and 9 July to 16 August 1979 Sophomores who successfully complete the
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For more information call Major Carr at 542-2612 or 542-2614. Don’t wait until it’s too
late—call now-
By BEN FUCiITT
Entertainment editor
Of Shakespeare’s greatest
tragedies, Othello is the most
tightly constructed, the most
compact. For this reason it is a
play of unusual forcefulness
and power, and perhaps the
most blisteringly intense work
the master playwright ever
composed. Atlanta’s Alliance
Theatre's current Othello fea
tures a performance of the title
role that matches the furious
humanity of Shakespeare’s
work, and that captures the
soul and spirit of this classic so
uncannily that it should
become definitive in its own
right.
With every move, every
gesture, every intonation of his
rich, deep voice, Paul Winfield
does justice to the elegant
magnificence of Shakespeare’s
poetry, and all this without
blurring for an instant any of
the power or the implications
in its substance It is almost
impossible to imagine anyone
that would have played Othello
with more reverence and
professional enthusiasm than
Winfield
For Winfield’s performance
alone, the AllitlM f OthtlU
would be a landmark in
southern theater history, how
ever, matters are further
monumentalized by co-star
Oscar-winner and box-office
gold mine Richard Dreyfuss’
witty, agile, spirited rendition
of lago.
Onjtago
As the plav opens we are
introduced to Iago, who is
already plotting revenge on his
commanding general, the great
black Moor Othello, because
Othello failed to assign Iago to
a position (ago felt he
deserved When Othello mar
ries Desdemona (Dorothy
Fielding), his happiness is so
great that Iago chooses this as
a target for his vengeance
Iago ingratiates himself with
Othello, and convinces the
Moor of his honesty, and then
proceeds to ruin the marriage
by convincing the Moor
through devious ploys that
Desdemona is unfaithful.
By the play's end, Iago has
tricked Othello into murdering
Desdemona for her imagined
adultery Othello realizes Ins
mistake and commits suicide
It is the tragedy of a inan who
destroys what he loves best, so
that his own death is the
necessary end. King Lear and
Brutus face similar fates, but
their destructions take place in
a context of vast kingdoms and
empires. Because Othello's
downfall is simply his false
friend “honest Iago,” the scope
of the tragedy is pared down to
these basic elements, and thus
the brutal emotional impact of
Othello's blind self-destruction
is intensified.
Winfield's performance is
amazingly versatile At the
play's opening, Othello is a
great and honorable soldier, a
courageous man of action, a
passionate, warm, trusting
man whose emotions are
tempered with battle-hardened
self-control. He is at all times
the dominant figure on stage,
entirely credible as the general
of the greatest commercial
power of the time.
As Iago’s treacherous poison
takes hold of Othello’s mind,
Winfield’s subtle changes in
character, from the proud
warrior to the pathetic remorse
ful wreck of a man at the end
of the play is utterly shatter
ing It is the greatest
performance of an alreadv
exceptional career (Sounder.
TV’s “King." “Roots ii”). And
it is honestly a rendition of
Othello that ranks with the
best anywhere at anytime, and
that includes Olivier’s
Iago is perhaps Shakes
peare’s most likeable villain, a
man so consumed with evil
that his fervor and intensity is
almost attractive. There is
probably not a role in all of
Shakespeare’s repertoire that
would suit Dreyfuss better He
has already been proven as a
performer with a rare gift for
depth, a great, almost boyish
enthusiasm for his roles, and
an uncommon comic sense.
Humor is essential at times
in relieving dramatic tension,
and Dreyfuss does not miss a
single laugh; he is gloriously
funny. His connivingly petty
Iago is an exciting, complex
characterization and a rich
addition to an already impres
sive career While Dreyfuss’
delivery occasionally gets slop
py. his repsect for the other
actors is admirable. He is the
rare actor that is courteous
enough to underplay when he
might be in jeopardy of
stealing a scene that belongs to
someone else.
Director Wallace Chappell
has done a fine job in helping
shape the brilliant lead per
formances His fluid, creative
staging of the action keeps the
nearly four hour production
from getting cumbersome.
Dorothy Fielding as Desde*
mona, and the supporting
actors are good enough not to
be entirely blown off the stage
by Winfield’s and Dreyfuss’
genius. It would be difficult to
find any group of supporting
players who could do more
than hold their own in these
circumstances.
My only real grievance with
the entire production is its
use of recorded music. Surely
for a work that achieves this
kind of excellence the Alliance
could get a couple of musi
cians.
Overall, of course, the
Alliance Theatre is to be
commended for presenting an
Othello of such power, force,
and passion, a production that
is not only rare for Atlanta, but
for even New York or London
Paul Winfield is doing a
definitive Othello through May
13 at Atlanta’s Alliance. Seeing
him is like watching history in
the making.
‘ Othello 5 captures soul and spirit
