Show Photos 2010-11

'Othello'

Actors’ NET takes on one of Shakespeare’s great tragedies

Date Posted: Tuesday, June 14, 2011 6:33 PM EDT

by Anthony Stoeckert

LET’S get right to the point, Actors’ NET of Bucks County’s staging of Othello is a major achievement, remarkable for a community group in fact. Give a lot of the credit to the actors, most of whom speak their lines with confidence and who actually act their roles rather than getting caught up Shakespeare’s language.

Despite its title, Iago is the play’s main character, at least in terms of driving the plot. Most of the story follows the villain’s scheme to convince Othello that Desdemona is having an affair with Cassio, leading to Othello’s destruction and Iago taking Cassio’s job.

George Hartpence is one of the area’s best community actors and his Iago doesn’t disappoint. Hartpence speaks his lines with such clarity and ease, as if he were having a conversation in a coffee shop — that is if a power-hungry warrior devised a plan to destroy everyone around him in a coffee shop.

Hartpence doesn’t resort to mustache-twirling villainy, he’s convincingly charming when dealing with Cassio, falsely loyal to Othello and intimidating and firm with his wife Emilia. Hartpence is so good I actually found myself buying Iago’s act, thinking he seemed like a decent sort. Hartpence does get his fun and powerful villainous moments during soliloquies, where his hatred for Othello and the world pour out of him.

Carol Thompson is Hartpence’s equal as Emilia, the wife of Iago (and Hartpence’s real-life wife). She’s also comfortable with the language and convincingly goes from dutiful wife to someone who realizes the awful truth of her husband.

Mort Paterson gives one of the night’s best performances as Brabantio, conveying the power of an influential man, the concern of a father and the anger of betrayal.  Too bad the character isn’t in the play beyond the first act because I could have watched Paterson all night.