OTHELLO is not one of Shakespeare’s most frequently performed plays, and in recent years it has been condemned as racist, colonialist and generally suitable for 21st century audiences only with a black actor in the title role – and all about the men in it. American playwright Paula Vogel has taken the three women in the story, and told the tale from their viewpoint in her “play about a handkerchief”.
It is this play, set in a back room of a palace in Cyprus, that Lorna Matthews-Keel has chosen for her production at Salisbury’s Studio Theatre in Ashley Road. It helps to know that the play is about a military commander whose ethnic heritage means his marriage to a young noblewoman has scandalised the Venetians. The couple have moved to Cyprus. Othello has given his beloved Desdemona a handkerchief, and she has lost it. He believes she has given it to a lover … and he suffocates her in a jealous rage. In Vogel’s play, you don’t see any of this.
As the curtain rises, on a convincingly decorated set designed by Barry Matthews-Keel, a girl is sitting, with mending in her hand. She crosses the room and picks up an embroidered handkerchief from a washing basket, hiding it in her cleavage.
A week later she is still sitting at the window, still mending, when her mistress Desdemona comes in. Petulant, entitled and bored, she is mocking her servant Emilia, promising promotion, flaunting her sexual adventures in the company of the local madame and making ever-more ridiculous demands. All this at the same time as looking for the handkerchief that Emilia (wife of Iago) denies having seen.
Emilia is sure of her position in society, and convinced that her religious observance and marital propriety makes her better than Bianca the whore. She cannot understand why Desdemona wants to be friends with this apparently independent, vulgar and carnal woman. As the day wears on, the balance between these three woman waxes and wanes, secrets are told, brags are proclaimed … and fear is in the air.
This intense and involving play calls for three charismatic actresses, and it has them in Sophie Cuerden, Sophie Booth and Stephanie Kmiotek-Mutton as Emilia, Desdemona and Bianca. The use of music and the swirling of bed linen in the heat of the Cypriot day enhance the atmosphere and the tension of the ever-present and encroaching threat.
It is a very clever play, suitable for adult audiences and giving younger Studio Theatre members a chance to display their versatility and magnetism. It is on until Saturday 16th May, as part of the company’s exciting 2026 season.
GP-W
PS. Clever casting of three young women with very different and distinctive voices also added to the effect. It is something that the professionals (including in a current tour) just don’t get right, leading to a light, high and monotonous tone to the proceedings.
Photographs by Trinity Photography