Texas Shakespeare Festival

Van Cliburn Auditorium

June 28 – July 27, 2019

Directed by:  Donald Carrier

Scenic Designer:  Jason Jamerson

Costume Designer:  Angelina Herin

Lighting Designer:  Alice Trent

 

Othello is perhaps one of my favorites of the Shakespearean dramas.  It tells the story of the Moor Othello and his duplicitous officer Iago who seeks Othello’s downfall through lies and intrigue.  Othello has wed the beautiful Desdemona, and Iago uses lies and deceit to make Othello question her loyalty.  At the end, Othello kills her in a rage, Iago kills his own wife, and his lies and crimes are finally exposed.

 

The director wanted to ground the play within the Renaissance period, finding it a good place to approach the design elements.  However, he wanted the music to be more soundtrack in style, expanding beyond the instruments of the Renaissance.  The music needed to be strong and impactful, highlighting transitions and underscoring Iago’s many monologues.

 

My research started with understanding the instruments of the time period.  In order to balance between the desire for a symphonic music score and the time period, I wanted to understand the instruments that would need to be available.  I ended up procuring a really excellent set of instruments that gave me many options.  These would satisfy both aspects of the music that the director wished.  It even included a shofar, giving me a period-appropriate tool for the trumpet fanfares.

 

The play features a great storm sequence that we got to play with, utilizing a huge storm sequence with thunders and flashes of lightning.  The show opened with a loud argument culminating in a slamming door that was bigger than life.  The final note of the show was punctuated with a driving boom that shook the auditorium.

 

Another challenge that I enjoyed was creating music for Shakespeare’s lyrics.  In the earlier parts of the play the soldiers sing songs of drinking, for which there is a lot of source material of that time period to influence the composition.  These were performed unaccompanied.  Later in the play is Desdemona’s song Willow.  She sung it unaccompanied, but the song was established at the start of her scene with a slightly dissonant version of the song played on a solo flute.