Profile Flashcards
Generic
When considering a character’s role within the context of the play you need to read the play in its entirety to ensure a deep understanding of the character and the text. Creating a character profile helps in understanding the character, for example, using six circumstances/circles of attention can facilitate a very accurate understanding of the relationships. To do this, I used a document to outline the six circumstances to outline who Iago and Peter were and their relationships with people in the play. I used postcards that we used in a workshop and went to a museum and watched many interviews.
Who are they?
Iago is one of Othello’s chief officers and secretly hates Othello. He is annoyed at his position in the army as Cassio was promoted instead of him. He thinks he’s worth more than Cassio and more deserving of the rank given to him. He also believes Othello to have treated him like dirt, as there is a rumour that he has slept with his wife. Peter is a Captain of Military Police. Having lost part of his leg below the knee he is seeing out the rest of his service as an investigating officer. He is late forties and is divorced because of his wife having an affair. He can have a laugh but maintains his seriousness throughout the play. He sees war as just a job, doesn’t contemplate the injustice that much, he does what he’s told and he’s good at his job. He knows the mental toll of war and what it does to others and their family’s because his experience is fairly similar. He’s lost one of his leg and is divorced due to his wife having an affair.
Where and when are they?
He’s in Emma’s house, in England. It is set roughly in 2007 during the Afghanistan war. Islamophobia is on the rise because of the Twin Towers Attack and the London bombings. Peter isn’t racist as inferred from the line, ‘I just don’t waste my time on hating them, after all they were just doing their job like I was just doing mine’. Iago is in Venice, Italy in the later half in the 16th century. It is during Venice’s struggle with the Ottoman Empire for control of Cyprus during the 1570s.
What are the dynamics of the relationships?
For the dynamics of relationships they are as follows: Othello is the key relationship because I want revenge on him by making it seem his wife has cheated on him. His second relationship is Cassio because he is the basis for Othello’s jealousy. The third is Desdemona as she needs to look unfaithful and the fourth is Rodrigo because Iago is just using him. For the dynamics of the relationships they are as follows: Mike is the key relationship because he is who I’m investigating. Emma is the second relationship because I’m investigating her. Gary is the third because he is Emma’s husband, who Peter is trying to save.
Postcard and Stella Adler
I’ve taken from Stellar Adler by immersing myself in Iago’s mind. Stella Adler was an American actress, and a teacher where she tutored performers in “the method” technique of acting (which is Stanislavsky’s method). Stella believed that over-reliance on personal, emotional memories limited an actor’s range advocating instead for the need of actors to build up a wealth of resources beyond their own knowledge and experiences, so they could more accurately and convincingly portray a wide array of characters. I thought about the anger and determination Iago would be feeling. To achieve this I used viewpoints developed by Mary Overlie, specifically the world of the play. Ann Bogart and Tina Landu used Mary Overlie’s ideas in choreography and integrated them into their acting work and relied not on emotional recall but physically creating emotion through pace, tempo, spatial relationships, gesture, shape, duration, repetition and kinesthetic response and will facilitate moving through space freely and openly. I picked a postcard that I thought Iago would pick. For example, I chose a card which had engraved and gilt armour of Charles 1st. When we see knight armour we typically think of honourable and courageous knights, charging into battle on horseback. It is a sign of bravery and honour among men where they would engage in close and personal combat. I chose it because this is everything Iago is not. He has no honour, he is two-faced and is everything a knight fights against. Iago would choose this card as he would take great pleasure in the irony of what it should mean to be a soldier of war. Perhaps, he would also see Othello in the armour and think of how he thinks Othello to be self-righteous and pure and how he wants to tear him down.
Museums and interviews
I’ve taken from Adler again by really immersing myself in Peter’s mind; the psychology behind people who go to war; the effects on their family. I watched many interviews with American and British soldiers, soldiers who had lost limbs, and documentaries detailing an amputee’s day-to-day. I saw interviews with soldiers about how they felt about the withdrawal from Afghanistan and went to the National Army museum. I noticed that a few referred to war as a drug and that they wanted to be back and the ones that had lost limbs were very cavalier about it with only a select few ever showing more than they were not letting on. They were clearly emotional but they never let on too much. For the piece I tried to capture this but not too much as the piece needs the emotion to get through to Emma the impact of what’s happened to Gary by sharing his experience. It’s the crescendo of the piece. They never gave too much away. Again, I needed to use this to get an idea but not too much because Peter’s opening up, not for his benefit per-say, but for Emma’s and Gary’s.
