Picture from Sundance Theatre Playbill Cover

A Modernization of Act V Scene I Lines 1-27

IAGO
Stand behind this wall, he’ll walk right into you.
Keep your gun up and ready.
Be quick on your feet. Don’t chicken out. I’ll be right behind you the entire time.
This can either make us or break us.

RODERIGO
Stay close. I’m not so sure about this…

IAGO
Don’t worry! Like I said, I’ll be right behind you.
[IAGO steps aside]

RODERIGO
I really have no good reason to do this, but somehow he has managed to convince me that this is right. My gun, this bullet, holds the fate of a man.

IAGO [aside]
I have practically brainwashed him; anger has consumed him.
At this point it doesn’t even matter who shoots who, I still win either way.
But if RODERIGO lives, I’ll owe him all of the money that I borrowed from him. I can’t have that. But if CASSIO lives, he’ll be a constant reminder of my maliciousness. Also, I can get caught. I can’t have that either. They both have to die. I’ll kill them both. Here they come.

Enter CASSIO

RODERIGO
It’s him! It’s CASSIO!
[he shoots at CASSIO]

CASSIO
I’ve been shot!
[he grabs the gun and shoots CASSIO]

RODERIGO
AHHHH!
[IAGO shoots CASSIO in the leg and runs away]

CASSIO
HELP! SOMEONE HELP!

I haven’t seen the Sundown Theatre adaptation, but I used its flyer as a thumbnail picture to show someone considering a modern version of this classic Shakespeare play, Othello. It is interesting to consider how a modern edition of Othello would appear in our media, and that someone else also believes that for a true “modernization”, all of the swords and daggers should change to guns. If someone were to take a modern approach to Othello there are many different angles they could take that could totally revamp the story, past just switching the swords to guns. If we consider the changes in our societal norms, there may be a completely different story. Back in Shakespeare’s time it was extremely far fetched for an interracial couple to be together, let alone get married. And the age gap may have posed a greater problem in Othello’s time frame then current day. In order to make the marriage as crazy and farfetched as it was back then, we would have to implement something more drastic to match the situation in Othello’s time. Furthermore, most couples do not wait until marriage to have sex, this is important because one of the theories we created in class could not be put to test in our modern day version. The theory was that if Othello and Desdemona truly did not consummate (contrary to my previous post about the movie adaptation deciding that Othello and Desdemona did consummate) then Othello could just have sex with Desdemona and see if she bled. If she bled he would know she couldn’t have cheat on him with Cassio. With the differences in our society and Othello‘s society, someone adapting the play to current times could have a completely different story on their hands.