Othello (Act V, scene ii)

Othello (Act III, scene iii)

Othello (Act I, scene iii)

Othello | Royal Shakespeare Company - Iago

Lucian Msamati discusses the character - Iago - in Iqbal Khan's production of Othello with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

One professor at Northwestern University once said to a lecture hall full of students that evil is infinitely more interesting than good.  It was a course in Shakespeare, so no one would quibble if any of us took it to mean evil in Shakespearean plays...  Nevertheless, there is probably a lot of truth if that statement were to refer generally to those figures or subjects that most command our attention, imagination and reactions.  Iago is a superb character study, precisely in this respect.  As Msamati clarifies, what motives his character is deeper, more dangerous, more emotional than something like race.

Othello | Royal Shakespeare Company - Othello

Hugh Quarshie discusses the character - Othello - in Iqbal Khan's production of Othello with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Indeed Othello is his own man: dignified, battle-tested, commanding of respect.  Yet, not all is well in Venice, and one Iago proves that the best of men can be taken down.  His undoing of Othello is the stuff of tragedy.

Othello | Royal Shakespeare Company

The say this production is electrifying is to add fuel to a play that is already fire, defined.  Iago works on Othello with exquisite prowess and evil intent, and what looks to be a rather sensuous rendering of the likes of Desdemona is the two hours' traffic of our stage.
 

King Lear (Act III, scene vi)

GLOUCESTER	Here is better than the open air; take it
	thankfully. I will piece out the comfort with what
	addition I can: I will not be long from you.
KENT	All the power of his wits have given way to his
	impatience: the gods reward your kindness!	5
[Exit GLOUCESTER]
EDGAR	Frateretto calls me; and tells me
	Nero is an angler in the lake of darkness.
	Pray, innocent, and beware the foul fiend.
Fool	Prithee, nuncle, tell me whether a madman be a
	gentleman or a yeoman?	10
KING LEAR	A king, a king!
Fool	No, he's a yeoman that has a gentleman to his son;
	for he's a mad yeoman that sees his son a gentleman
	before him.
KING LEAR	To have a thousand with red burning spits	15
	Come hissing in upon 'em,--
EDGAR	The foul fiend bites my back.
Fool	He's mad that trusts in the tameness of a wolf, a
	horse's health, a boy's love, or a whore's oath.
KING LEAR	It shall be done; I will arraign them straight.	20
[To EDGAR]
	Come, sit thou here, most learned justicer;
[To the Fool]
	Thou, sapient sir, sit here. Now, you she foxes!
EDGAR	Look, where he stands and glares!
	Wantest thou eyes at trial, madam?
	Come o'er the bourn, Bessy, to me,--	25
Fool	Her boat hath a leak,
	And she must not speak
	Why she dares not come over to thee.
EDGAR	The foul fiend haunts poor Tom in the voice of a
	nightingale. Hopdance cries in Tom's belly for two	30
	white herring. Croak not, black angel; I have no
	food for thee.
KENT	How do you, sir? Stand you not so amazed:
	Will you lie down and rest upon the cushions?
KING LEAR	I'll see their trial first. Bring in the evidence.	35
[To EDGAR]
	Thou robed man of justice, take thy place;
[To the Fool]
	And thou, his yoke-fellow of equity,
	Bench by his side:
[To KENT]
	you are o' the commission,
	Sit you too.	40
EDGAR	Let us deal justly.
	Sleepest or wakest thou, jolly shepherd?
	Thy sheep be in the corn;
	And for one blast of thy minikin mouth,
	Thy sheep shall take no harm.	45
	Pur! the cat is gray.
KING LEAR	Arraign her first; 'tis Goneril. I here take my
	oath before this honourable assembly, she kicked the
	poor king her father.
Fool	Come hither, mistress. Is your name Goneril?	50
KING LEAR	She cannot deny it.
Fool	Cry you mercy, I took you for a joint-stool.
KING LEAR	And here's another, whose warp'd looks proclaim
	What store her heart is made on. Stop her there!
	Arms, arms, sword, fire! Corruption in the place!	55
	False justicer, why hast thou let her 'scape?
EDGAR	Bless thy five wits!
KENT	O pity! Sir, where is the patience now,
	That thou so oft have boasted to retain?
EDGAR	[Aside] My tears begin to take his part so much,	60
	They'll mar my counterfeiting.
KING LEAR	The little dogs and all, Tray, Blanch, and
	Sweet-heart, see, they bark at me.
EDGAR	Tom will throw his head at them. Avaunt, you curs!
	Be thy mouth or black or white,	65
	Tooth that poisons if it bite;
	Mastiff, grey-hound, mongrel grim,
	Hound or spaniel, brach or lym,
	Or bobtail tike or trundle-tail,
	Tom will make them weep and wail:	70
	For, with throwing thus my head,
	Dogs leap the hatch, and all are fled.
	Do de, de, de. Sessa! Come, march to wakes and
	fairs and market-towns. Poor Tom, thy horn is dry.
KING LEAR	Then let them anatomize Regan; see what breeds	75
	about her heart. Is there any cause in nature that
	makes these hard hearts?