Mary Panttaja

One of the challenging things about attending a “Shakespeare” Festival for over 20 years is that, well, you see a lot of Shakespeare productions. This is our 3rd Othello, though I only remember the last two. Both times the role of Iago, really the primary role of the play, was powered by one of two of my favorite actors at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSH). Anthony Heald did the part last time as a small, wiry, irritable thing. Dan Donahoe, this year, was equally malevolent though he felt less damaged and more dangerous. Both actors have brilliant ranges from tragedy to the the lightest comedy (My earliest recolllections of Donahoe are of a shatteringly brilliant turn as the Waiter in “Rough Crossing”.)

When watching a familiar play (though familiarity for me is lessened by my traditional lack of good memory) I get caught up in performances and the leading roles last night were full of good craftsmanship. Iago, though, is the only deeply interesting role. Othello is tragically cursed; Desdemona is tragically innocent. They were played well, but are less interesting to watch evolve. But the role of Iago really gives an actor something to carve into, to sculpt, to embed with complexity.

Iago was frightening last night. Power embedded with evil going to the heart of real damage in the world—no accidental damage—everything is intentionally inflicted. Donahoe was quite thorough in showing all the ways an insightful person can construct destructive events. He was very aware of what Iago was doing and he showed us each spark of anger and pain that drove his intellectual commitment to destroying as many people as possible.

It’s always a joy to watch Donohoe work. It was interesting to see how his physicality has changed–partly an older body and face, partly a crafted look of tough bravado. Looking forward to seeing him in “Our Town” tonight—how different must that be? The company seems quite excited about their production of the Wilder play which has been produced in the outdoor Shakespearean theatre.

PS. Saw “Welcome Home, Jenny Sutter” this afternoon. A short play about a Marine coming home from Iraq and the broken self that she is reluctant to take home to her children. It was quite good—though we have some talking to do to come to our completed thoughts—the fun of watching a company and audience come to grips with a new play.