Media Archive

A conversation with the Director of Othello and the Shakespeare historian about the themes, motifs, and issues raised in the play.

Othello director Bill Rauch recently sat down with Shakespeare expert and John Cogan University Professor of the Humanities Stephen Greenblatt for a conversation about the Bard’s resonance with modern viewers, the importance of a diverse cast, the music in the language of the play, and more.

“I wrote this play thinking it was going to be the last play I’d write. I was going to quit being a playwright. I was in a place where I was feeling like, “I don’t know if this is the life for me.”…So when Diane Borger [A.R.T.’s executive producer] told me that she would like to take a risk on this play, I think that really brought back whatever faith I had in theater.”

While racism has always been the cornerstone of “Othello,” [actor Chris] Butler says, in the age of the #MeToo movement, the unfair treatment of Desdemona becomes all the more glaring.”