This site uses cookies and by using the site you are consenting to this. Find out why we use cookies and how to manage your settings.
  Home |  The Company |  What's On |  News and Features |  Support Us |  Learning |  Shopping |  In the Business |  CBRB 


Click each theatre logo for performance details and on-line booking

The Orpheus Suite



An introduction to Ellington
David Bintley discusses the appeal of the jazz legend
Storyguide
Read about the legend of Orpheus
Press quotes
Read reviews of previous performances
Colin Towns
Journalist Duncan Heining talks to the big band leader and composer of The Orpheus Suite

Take Five



David Bintley on the attraction of jazz
The creator of Take Five talks about his love of jazz
Rehearsal gallery
See shots from the Company studios

The

Shakespeare


Suite

Introduction
An overview of the ballet
Press quotes
Read quotes from reviews of previous performances
Character guides
Meet the characters portrayed in the ballet
Duke Ellington
Geoffrey Smith looks at Duke Ellington's relationship with dance

Othello and Desdemona



Hamlet | Petruchio and Kate, a shrew | Richard III and Lady Anne | Macbeth and Lady Macbeth | Bottom and Titania | Othello and Desdemona | Romeo and Juliet

Character Guide:



One of the shorter pieces, but one of the most dramatic, Othello and Desdemona is a portrait of tension, with the audience already uncomfortably aware of impending murder of the innocent Desdemona long before she herself realises her fate.

As an individual character, the part of Othello is a powerful figure who requires high levels of maturity from those that play him. His barely-witheld rage and paranoia must be evident to the audience, but not immediately so to Desdemona, else she will look foolish for not recognising the danger she is in. Likewise, while the part of Desdemona could be seen as a scant one, with little for the dancer to get her teeth into, she must be played with disciplined understatement, unaware of her lover's intention until it is too late, without falling into the role of a pantomime 'damsel-in-distress'.

ENDS

PRINT THIS PAGE
  Contact Us | Cookies and Privacy Policy | Credits
® Birmingham Royal Ballet | Company registration no. 3320538 | Registered charity no. 1061012 Birmingham Royal Ballet is funded by
Othello and Desdemona

Hamlet | Petruchio and Kate, a shrew | Richard III and Lady Anne | Macbeth and Lady Macbeth | Bottom and Titania | Othello and Desdemona | Romeo and Juliet

Character Guide:



One of the shorter pieces, but one of the most dramatic, Othello and Desdemona is a portrait of tension, with the audience already uncomfortably aware of impending murder of the innocent Desdemona long before she herself realises her fate.

As an individual character, the part of Othello is a powerful figure who requires high levels of maturity from those that play him. His barely-witheld rage and paranoia must be evident to the audience, but not immediately so to Desdemona, else she will look foolish for not recognising the danger she is in. Likewise, while the part of Desdemona could be seen as a scant one, with little for the dancer to get her teeth into, she must be played with disciplined understatement, unaware of her lover's intention until it is too late, without falling into the role of a pantomime 'damsel-in-distress'.

ENDS