Performances
The first recorded mention of Othello is found in a Revels account indicating the play was performed at Whitehall Palace on November 1, 1604. The cast list of the performance is likely lost to time, but legend has Shakespeare appearing on stage in minor roles such as Old Adam in As You Like It, and, thus, it is not inconceivable that Shakespeare himself may have played Brabantio. It is possible the actor playing Brabantio "doubled-up" and performed another character appearing later in the play.
Film interpreters of the role include Friedrich Kühne in the 1922 silent version starring Emil Jannings, Hilton Edwards in Orson Welles' 1952 film, Anthony Nicholls in Laurence Olivier's 1965 film, and Pierre Vaneck in the 1995 film starring Laurence Fishburne.
Read more about this topic: Brabantio
Famous quotes containing the word performances:
“This play holds the season’s record [for early closing], thus far, with a run of four evening performances and one matinee. By an odd coincidence it ran just five performances too many.”
—Dorothy Parker (1893–1967)
“At one of the later performances you asked why they called it a “miracle,”
Since nothing ever happened. That, of course, was the miracle
But you wanted to know why so much action took on so much life
And still managed to remain itself, aloof, smiling and courteous.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)