Othello

Summary

1981 BBC production of Othello presented in two parts over one evening in the BBC Television Shakespeare series.

Theatre play

Othello by William Shakespeare [more information]

Play synopsis

'Othello the Moor, a general employed by the Venetian state, has secretly married Desdemona, a daughter of the senator Brabantio. Iago, an ensign nursing resentment against Othello, enlists the help of Rodorigo, a disappointed suitor of Desdemona. They wake Brabantio in the middle of the night with the news of his daughter’s elopement. Brabantio takes the case to the senate where, learning that she has married Othello of her own accord, he disowns his daughter. Othello is immediately ordered to the Venetian colony of Cyprus to repel a threatened Turkish invasion. Desdemona sails with her husband, taking with them her companion Emilia, who is also Iago’s wife, and Othello’s lieutenant Michael Cassio, newly promoted over Iago’s head. Once in Cyprus, Iago plants the suspicion in Othello’s mind that Desdemona has been unfaithful to him with Cassio. He engineers a drunken brawl for which Cassio is blamed and dismissed by Othello. Desdemona intercedes on Cassio’s behalf but her constant pleas to Othello for his reinstatement only serve to convince Othello that Cassio is her lover. Iago acquires a treasured handkerchief that belonged to Desdemona and uses it as proof of the affair. Increasingly maddened by jealousy, Othello orders Iago to kill Cassio and strangles Desdemona himself. Emilia discloses her husband’s plot and Othello, tormented by grief and remorse, kills himself. Iago, after murdering his own wife, is left to the justice of the Venetian state’. (Source: http://www.rscshakespeare.co.uk/othello.html, accessed 6 November 2012.)

Production history

Written c. 1603 and the first known performance occurred on 1 November 1604 at Whitehall Palace in London. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Othello#Performance_history.)

Date of transmission

Sunday 4 October 1981

Time

7.15-9.00pm; 9.05-10.45pm

Series

BBC Television Shakespeare

Channel

BBC2

Production company

BBC

Credits

Director

Jonathan Miller

Lighting

John Treays

Playwright

William Shakespeare

Composer

Stephen Oliver

Designer

Colin Lowrey

Costumes

Raymond Hughes

Make-up

Eileen Mair

Sound

Alan Edmonds

Fight Arranger

William Hobbs

Script Editor

David Snodin

Cast

John Barron	Duke of Venice
Geoffrey Chater	Brabantio
Alex Davion	Gratiano
Howard Goorney	Second Senator
Seymour Green	First Senator
Max Harvey	First Gentleman
Anthony Hopkins	Othello
Bob Hoskins	Iago
Rosemary Leach	Emilia
Terry McGinity	Second Gentleman
Wendy Morgan	Bianca
Nigel Nobes	Third Gentleman
Joseph O’Conor	Lodovico
Anthony Pedley	Roderigo
Tony Steedman	Montano
Peter Walmsley	Officer
Penelope Wilton	Desdemona
David Yelland	Cassio

Additional details

Play tags

class issues / differences; race relations; tragedy

Audiovisual sources

Title

Othello (BBC, 1981)

Archive

BBC Information and Archives [more information]

Address

White City
London
UK

Telephone

+44 (0)20 8008 2288

Website

http://www.bbc.co.uk/informationandarchives/

Access

BBC Information and Archives is not open to the public.

Print sources

Title

Radio Times, 1 October 1981 (Magazine)

Linking notes

article, p. 5; illustrated listing, p. 29