Adaptation Othello: Act 1

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English Literature Coursework

Modern Adaptation of “Othello”

Shayan Moghaddam

Othello Act 1

Before I start my own adaptation, I will present an overview of the first Act of “Othello”

Characters

The main characters in Act 1 are Othello, Brabantio, Roderigo, Iago, Cassio, The Duke and Desdemona. There are also two senators in the play as well as an Officer, a Sailor and a Messenger. I will now give a brief description of each one of these characters.

Othello: A commander for the Military Force of Venice. Being an origin of Mauritania, he is referred to as a “Moor”. His triumphant line of work brings him a high rank in Venice. We know this from how people refer to him “Valiant Othello” (Act 1 Scene 3, Line 48, Duke) But being a foreign person of a different colour, he is socially separated from those whom he works with. He is a military man, with repute for bravery in combat and fine judgment in military matters. In act 1, we learn that Othello falls in love and marries Desdemona without Desdemona’s fathers consent.

Brabantio: A member of the Venetian Senate. He is the father of Desdemona and brother of Gratiano. His first appearance is in Act 1 Scene 1 where Iago and Roderigo tell him that Othello has married his daughter. When he hears of his daughter's marriage to Othello, Brabantio accuses Othello of using magic on his daughter to bewitch her into loving him. Brabantio consequently brings Othello to court in front of the duke and two senates. After the events that happen he disowns his daughter. He advises Othello that, "She has deceived her father, and may thee”

Desdemona:  Desdemona is the daughter of Brabantio; a man of high repute in Venice. For that reason, Desdemona is an upper class lady. Desdemona elopes with Othello and escorts him to Cyprus. After Cassio is shamed, she pleads for his reinstatement, an act which her husband interprets as proof of Iago's inference that she is disloyal. She is eventually slaughtered by Othello in the final scene of the play. 

Roderigo: Roderigo is a Venetian gentleman frantically craving Desdemona. Roderigo tells Iago that he does not appreciate him using his money. “I take it much unkindly, that thou, Iago, who hast had my purse…” However, when Iago tells him his plot in order to capture Desdemona's heart Roderigo forgets Iago's “theft” and agrees to kill Cassio. He does everything that Iago asks him to do and has no idea that he is being systematically cheated by him. In the final scene of the play, he wounds and gets wounded by Cassio in an unsuccessful attempt to murder the lieutenant, and as a consequence he is killed by Iago.

Iago: Iago is Othello's servant. When Othello promotes Michael Cassio, Iago feels affronted and conspires to affront them both. He manipulates Cassio into making himself look bad and urges Roderigo to slay Cassio. When the plot fails, he kills Roderigo to make sure he does not show him up. Iago convinces Othello of Desdemona's deceitfulness and maneuvers him into killing her. He then murders his own wife, Emilia, and is taken into custody by Cassio at the play's end.

Michael Cassio: Cassio is a gentleman soldier; he comes from Florentine and has a weakness for women and alcohol. Cassio is well bought up, and well learned. He is one of Othello's lieutenants. Iago uses him in his plot to destroy Othello; Iago hints throughout the play that Cassio is having an affair with Othello's wife, Desdemona. Iago eventually uses Cassio to fuel Othello's jealousy into murderous anger.

The other characters in Act 1 are the duke, the senators, the officer and the messengers.

Cast List on following page…

Denzel Washington

Denzel Hayes Washington, Jr. (born December 28, 1954) is a two-time Academy Award- winning American actor and director. He has garnered much critical acclaim for his portrayals of several real-life figures, such as Steve Biko, Malcolm X, Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, Frank Lucas, and Herman Boone.

Ian Mckellen

Sir Ian Murray Mckellen, CH, CBE (born 25 May 1939) is a British stage and screen actor, the recipient of the Tony Award and two Oscar nominations. Mckellen is best known to moviegoers in recent years for his roles as Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings film trilogy and as Magneto in the X-Men trilogy. His work has spanned genres from serious Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction. He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1979, knighted in the 1991 New Year Honors for his outstanding work and contributions to the theatre. In the 2008 New Year Honors he was made a Companion of Honour (CH) for services to Drama and to Equality. 

Liv Tyler

Liv Tyler (born July 1, 1977) is an American actress and model. She is perhaps best known for her roles of Grace Stamper in Armageddon and Arwen in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. She is the daughter of Aerosmith's front man, Steven Tyler. 

Timothy Spall

Timothy Leonard Spall OBE (born February 27, 1957) in Battersea, is an English BAFTA award-nominated film, stage and television actor. Spall, the third of four sons, was born in Battersea, London to a postal worker father and a hairdresser mother. He trained at the National Youth Theatre and RADA, where he was awarded the Bancroft Gold Medal as the most promising actor in his year.


Hugo Weaving

Hugo Wallace Weaving (born 4 April 1960) is a film and stage actor, as well as a voice actor. Weaving was born in Nigeria to English parents Anne, a tour guide, and Wallace Weaving, a seismologist. He spent his childhood in South Africa and then moved to the United Kingdom in his teens. While in England he attended the prestigious boarding school Queen Elizabeth's Hospital, commonly known in Bristol as QEH. He moved to Australia in 1976, where he attended Sydney's Knox Grammar School. Weaving later graduated from Australia's National Institute of Dramatic Art in 1981.

Sean Astin

Sean Astin (born February 25, ) is an American  , , and -nominated  best known for his film roles as Mikey Walsh in , the  of ,  in the , and ’s steroid-juiced brother in . In television, he guest starred as  on the  of .

Marlon Brando

Marlon Brando, Jr. (April 3, 1924 – July 1, 2004) was an -winning  actor whose body of work spanned over half a century. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential actors of all time. Brando is best known for his roles in  and , both directed by  in the early 1950s, as well as his Academy-Award winning performance as  in  and as Colonel Walter E. Kurtz in , the latter two directed by  in the 1970s. Brando also garnered worldwide attention by playing  in  (1978), directed by .

Pierce Brendan Brosnan,  (born , ) is an  and  actor and producer best known for portraying  in four films from 1995 to 2002: , ,  and . Since leaving the role, Brosnan has gone on to star in films such as  and . In 1996, he also formed, along with Beau St. Clair, a -based production company named Irish Dreamtime. His current projects include ,  And .


Ryan Merriman

Ryan Earl Merriman (born April 10, 1983) is an American actor. He began his acting career as a child actor during the mid 1990s and has appeared in 30 Hollywood films and television shows to date. Merriman was born in , the son of Earl and Nona Merriman. He has a sister, Monika. His father's family is originally from , while his mother is of  and  descent. At a young age, he began acting in commercials, print work, vocal performances and local theater in .

Dustin Milligan

Dustin Milligan (born , ) is a Canadian film and television actor. Milligan was born in ,  and lives in . Milligan starred in the short-lived primetime dramatic suspense series  picked up by the  network for its inaugural season in September 2006, but cancelled in October 2006 after only three episodes. He also starred in the Canadian network 's made-for-TV-movie 8 Days to Live playing  star 's missing son.

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Omid Djalili

Omid Djalili. Born , ) is a   and . Djalili was born in  to  parents from  and is a Baha’i himself. He attended the  in , , studying  and . Djalili has appeared in a number of films, most notably , , , , ,  and . He is probably best-known to American audiences as Nasim from the   , starring alongside actress . He recently picked up an international film award for Best Supporting Actor in Casanova.

Information taken from “Wikipedia: The Online Encyclopedia”

Costume: Because the play will be set in and around ...

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