Othello: the remix

It's a quarter past three in the Pleasance Courtyard. A man in the row in front of me is on his feet, fingers aimed skywards, bouncing to a heavy hip-hop beat. He is well beyond retirement age and has just indulged in quite possibly his first hour of rap, a fact of which he could not appear more pleased. This is indeed Othello, but as you've never heard it before: the tale of MC Othello and his crew. It's an affirmation of both Shakespeare's depth as a resource for exploring the human condition, and of the power of hip-hop as a living, breathing art form for meaningful expression.

On a first pass, comparing a collection of hip-hop beats to Shakespeare's original seems an exercise in missing the point: Othello: the Remix is interesting perhaps because it is so different. But, on further inspection, the comparison is quite instructive. For what else is hip-hop if not making language work as hard as it can? With clever use of rhythm, rhyme and allusion, words sparkle with much more than the sum of their individual parts. 

If there's one criticism, it's that Chicago Shakespeare Theatre doesn't always adhere to the high lyrical standards it sets itself. Compare the quarto and folio editions of Shakespeare and one finds the bard editing away the odd shoddy couplet. Othello: the Remix finds itself in pre-folio mode: there's still some tightening to do on those few lines which don't have the flow, poise or inventiveness of the brilliant whole. They jar only by comparison; the understudy players on a truly remarkable stage.