Join Michael Shapiro, esteemed Shakespearean scholar, for a presentation on Shakespeare’s "Othello". The British Library summarizes the play as: “Anyone who doubts that Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies were written from an imaginative standpoint far ahead of his time need only think of Othello. The basic idea of the play is so well known that it’s easy to forget the startling boldness of Shakespeare’s decision to take Cinthio’s brief tale of a doomed mixed-race marriage and transform it into a heart-breaking tragedy. In a country where few people outside London would ever have seen a black person, and centuries before the problems that fuel the tragedy became as ubiquitous and pressing as they are today, Shakespeare produced in Othello a searing critique of racial and sexual injustice, which is more powerful now in the 21st century than it could ever have been at the dawn of the 17th.”

For the presentation Michael recommends that you watch Kenneth Branagh’s 1995 production. He will show clips from this film during the presentation.

Rent Othello on Amazon: Watch Othello (1995) | Prime Video (amazon.com)

Date: Wednesday, June 7, 2023

Time: 6:30 p.m. Central

Location: Zoom Video Conference

Cost: Free