Arts & Entertainment
Dueling ‘Othellos’
Synetic brings its trademark moves to its production while Folgers goes traditional route
Owiso Odera and Ian Merrill Peakes in the Folger Theatre production. (Photo by Carol Pratt; courtesy of Folger Theatre)
‘Othello’
Through December
Folger Theatre
201 East Capitol Street, SE
$30-$65
202-544-7077
folger.edu‘Othello’
Closes Sunday
Synetic Theater
1800 South Bell Street, Crystal City
$25-$55
800-494-8497
synetictheater.org
Jealousy can be a dangerous emotion. In Shakespeare’s “Othello,” it’s downright lethal. Local audiences can see two vastly different takes on the dark drama at the Folger Theatre on Capitol Hill, and (if you act fast) Synetic Theater in Crystal City.
Director Robert Richmond’s Folger production sets the action during the Crusades and casts Othello as a Templar Knight, underlining the Moor’s unparalleled ascent to power. As Othello, Owiso Odera displays an innate princely confidence and occasional cockiness that works beautifully to further ignite the fury of his secretly sworn enemy Iago, played by a charmingly villainous Ian Merrill Peakes. From the start, the audience is made aware of the extent of Iago’s shocking duplicity and expects him, like most of Shakespeare’s bad guys, to meet his fate at the end of a blade by the end of the evening. Instead he’s sentenced to a smorgasbord of torture.
Despite some hammy moments, Richmond’s “Othello” is an exciting and visceral interpretation. When Odera’s darkly handsome Othello awakens a sleeping Desdemona (the luminous Janie Brookshire) to punish her for alleged sexual misdeeds with her friend Cassio (Thomas Keegan) by strangling her to death (it takes several tries before she eventually dies), it’s intense for sure. And the subsequent scenes in which Iago’s distraught wife Emilia (Karen Peakes) reveals Iago’s ongoing deception and quickly meets a horrific fate, followed by Othello’s devastating realization and a tragic ending of his own, are equally compelling.
This production reunites gay designers William Ivey Long and Tony Cisek who collaborated on last season’s Folger hit “Henry VIII.” Both take brilliant advantage of the tragedy’s disparate regions and climes. As the action moves from Venice via sea to Cyprus, Long’s costumes change from capes, fur-trimmed coats and chain mail to open shirts and sandals. Similarly, Cisek’s dazzling set morphs from a towering canopy bed elaborately crowned in carved wood to magistrate’s office to billowing ship sails to a fabulously appointed Bedouin tent (not entirely Cyprian, but beautiful still).
Synetic’s “Othello” is the second of three revivals featured in the terrific company’s “Speak No More: The Silent Shakespeare Festival.” As the title suggests, the 90-minute show is interpreted solely through movement. And while the uber-fit actors don’t utter a peep about a “green-eyed monster” or “beast with two backs,” all the elements of jealousy and lusty passion are fully conveyed through Paata Tsikurishvili smart staging and Irina Tsikurishvili’s insanely inventive and sexy choreography.
Instead of one of Iago, Synetic has opted to go with three. They’re united when the primary Iago played by a maniacally gleeful Philip Fletcher (who is gay) pulls his two alter egos (Synetic vets Alex Mills and Irina Tsikurishvili) through a Mylar mirror. At times the potent trio overpowers the production’s Othello (Roger Payano), but never for too long. The talented and well built Payano definitely holds his own among a strong cast. In fact, it was Payano who first inspired Synetic to mount “Othello” when it premiered last season.
In ways, the challenge with “Othello” is to buy into Iago’s all-consuming hate for the title character and to believe a man will turn on his beloved wife based on pretty flimsy evidence. Both productions do well convincing on these counts; still, as with so much of Shakespeare, audiences just have to go with it, remembering that jealousy can make people do ugly things.
WorldPride 2025 concluded with the WorldPride Street Festival and Closing Concert held along Pennsylvania Ave., N.W. on Sunday, June 8. Performers on the main stage included Doechii, Khalid, Courtney Act, Parker Matthews, 2AM Ricky, Suzie Toot, MkX and Brooke Eden.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
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(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key and Robert Rapanut)
Theater
A hilarious ‘Twelfth Night’ at Folger full of ‘elegant kink’
Nonbinary actor Alyssa Keegan stars as Duke Orsino
‘Twelfth Night’
Through June 22
Folger Theatre
201 East Capitol St., S.E.
$20-$84
Folger.edu
Nonbinary actor Alyssa Keegan (they/them)loves tapping into the multitudes within.
Currently Keegan plays the melancholic Duke Orsino in Folger Theatre’s production of Shakespeare’s romantic comedy “Twelfth Night.” Director Mei Ann Teo describes the production as “sexy, hilarious, and devastating” and full of “elegant kink.”
Washington-based, Keegan enjoys a busy and celebrated career. Her vast biography includes Come From Away at Ford’s Theatre; Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Helen Hayes Award, Best Actress) and Paula Vogel’s How I Learned to Drive, both at Round House Theatre; Diana Son’s Stop Kiss directedby Holly Twyford for No Rules Theatre Company; and Contractions at Studio Theatre, to name just a few.
In addition to acting, Keegan works as a polyamory and ethical non-monogamy life and relationship coach, an area of interest that grew out of personal exploration. For them, coaching seems to work hand in hand with acting.
WASHINGTON BLADE: You’re playing the lovesick Orsino in Twelfth Night. How did that come about?
ALYSSA KEEGAN: The director was looking to cast a group of actors with diverse identities; throughout auditions, there were no constraints regarding anyone’s assigned sex at birth. It was really a free for all.
BLADE: What’s your approach to the fetching, cod-piece clad nobleman?
KEEGAN: Offstage I identify as completely nonbinary; I love riding in this neutral middle space. But I also love cosplay. The ability to do that in the play gives me permission to dive completely into maleness.
So, when I made that decision to play Orsino as a bio male, suddenly the part really cracked open for me. I began looking for clues about his thoughts and opinions about things like his past relationships and his decision not to date older women.
Underneath his mask of bravura and sexuality, and his firmness of feelings, he’s quite lonely and has never really felt loved. It makes sense to me why his love for Olivia is so misguided and why he might fall in love with the Cesario/Viola character.
BLADE: As an actor, do you ever risk taking on the feelings of your characters?
KEEGAN: Prior to my mental health education, yes, and that could be toxic for me. I’ve since learned that the nervous system can’t tell the difference between real emotional distress and a that of a fully embodied character.
So, I created and share the Empowered Performer Project. [a holistic approach to performance that emphasizes the mental and emotional well-being of performing artists]. It utilizes somatic tools that help enormously when stepping into a character.
BLADE: Has changing the way you work affected your performances?
KEEGAN: I think I’m much better now. I used to have nearly debilitating stage fright. I’d spend all day dreading going onstage. I thought that was just part of the job. Now, I’ve learned to talk to my body. Prior to a performance, I can now spend my offstage time calmly gardening, working with my mental health clients, or playing with my kid. I’m just present in my life in a different way.
BLADE: Is Orsino your first time playing a male role?
KEEGAN: No. In fact, the very first time I played a male role was at the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton, Va. I played Hipolito in Thomas Middleton’s The Revenger’s Tragedy.
As Hipolito, I felt utterly male in the moment, so much so that I had audience members see me later after the show and they were surprised that I was female. They thought I was a young guy in the role. There’s something very powerful in that.
BLADE: Do you have a favorite part? Male or female?
KEEGAN: That’s tough but I think it’s Maggie the Cat. I played the hyper-female Maggie in Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at Round House. In the first act she didn’t stop talking for 51 minutes opposite Gregory Wooddell as Brick who barely had to speak. That lift was probably the heaviest I’ve ever been asked to do in acting.
BLADE: What about Folger’s Twelfth Night might be especially appealing to queer audiences?
KEEGAN: First and foremost is presentation. 99% of the cast identify as queer in some way.
The approach to Shakespeare’s text is one of the most bold and playful that I have ever seen. It’s unabashedly queer. The actors are here to celebrate and be loud and colorful and to advocate. It’s a powerful production, especially to do so close to the Capitol building, and that’s not lost on any of us.
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A hilarious ‘Twelfth Night’ at Folger full of ‘elegant kink’
