teacher resource pack

TEACHER RESOURCE PACK
12 - 29 SEPTEMBER 2013 | UNICORNTHEATRE.COM
OTHELLO: THE REMIX
RESOURCE PACK
CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE THEATER & RICHARD JORDAN PRODUCTIONS
PRESENT THE Q BROTHERS’
OTHELLO: THE REMIX
Created, directed and music by GQ and JQ, Developed by Rick Boynton
CONTENTS
PAGE
INTRODUCTION
HOW THIS PACK WORKS
1
2
SECTION ONE - CONTEXT & BACKGROUND
3
Background to Othello: The Remix
The cast and creative team
4
5
A brief summary of the original and the re-mixed versions of Othello
Context for the play
6-13
- A brief history of hip-hop
- The relationship between hip-hop & Shakespeare
- How The Q Brothers made the show
SECTION TWO - PRACTICAL ACTIVITIES
Overview
15
Sequence A
Exploring character in Shakespeare’s Othello 16-17
Sequence B
Adapting shakespeare into a modern context
Sequence C
Extended drama - Those who knew Othello and Desdemona
RESOURCES FOR PRACTICAL ACTIVITIES
FURTHER READING & USEFUL WEBSITES 18-19
20-23
24-36
37- 38
OTHELLO: THE REMIX
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INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the Unicorn teacher resources for Othello: The Remix by The Q Brothers.
The Q Brothers’ Othello: The Remix is an imaginative reworking of Shakespeare’s tragedy of
jealousy and revenge. This high energy, hugely entertaining and accessible production has a
great deal to offer students in years 8 and above.
This pack is designed to provide teachers and students with materials that can extend and
deepen your student’s visit to the play. The resources are intended to support work before
and after seeing the play and aim to enrich the experience through active and reflective
engagement with the piece and to connect with students’ classroom learning.
The play and resource are relevant for students of Drama and English and are designed to
be flexible enough to offer something at Key Stages 3, 4 and 5. We also hope that Music
teachers will also find these resources helpful.
The resources are written for those who have prior knowledge of or are studying Othello, as
well as those who are encountering the story for the first time and have no experience of
Shakespeare.
IF YOU ARE STUDYING OTHELLO
Othello: The Remix will give you the chance to
explore a fresh take on Shakespeare’s original and
the opportunity to look at how characters and
themes translate into a hip-hop setting.
IF YOU ARE NOT STUDYING OTHELLO
This is an accessible, enjoyable play about jealousy,
revenge and ambition and this pack will offer
creative ways to explore the play and become
informed and critical theatre goers.
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OTHELLO: THE REMIX
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HOW THIS PACK WORKS
SECTION ONE context, background and ideas for further research including:
• A brief summary of both Shakespeare and The Q Brothers’ versions of the story.
• Context for the play: musicality, lyricism and storytelling in Shakespeare’s Theatre and
hip-hop.
• An insight into the making of Othello: The Remix and The Q Brothers’ process of
translating and adapting Shakespeare.
SECTION TWO practical drama activities which can be built into a unit of work:
• Practical exploration of how to translate from Shakespeare into a contemporary setting.
• An extended drama that explores the responses of those left behind after the death of
Othello and Desdemona – allowing for a deeper understanding and analysis of the play,
with work that can be developed in the English and Drama curriculums.
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OTHELLO: THE REMIX
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SECTION ONE
BACKGROUND TO OTHELLO: THE REMIX
Chicago based The Q Brothers’ Othello: The Remix was created for last summer’s Globe to
Globe festival as part of the Cultural Olympiad. The Globe Theatre programmed all 37 of
Shakespeare’s plays in 37 different languages. So while The Belarus Free Theatre translated
King Lear into Belarusian and Theatre Walay–Kashf translated The Taming of the Shrew
into Urdu, The Q Brothers were commissioned to transform Shakespeare’s Othello into
the language of hip-hop. The ambition of the festival was to celebrate the connection of
countries worldwide through the universal and timeless nature of Shakespeare’s plays.
‘Shakespeare is the language which brings us together better than any
other, and which reminds us of our almost infinite difference, and of our
strange and humbling commonality. And above all there are the plays
themselves, plays which have travelled far and wide, and which on their
travels have midwifed new theatre cultures, spread light and laughter, and
helped nations, new and old, to define themselves.’
Dominic Dromgoole - Artistic Director of the Globe Theatre
www.globetoglobe.shakespearesglobe.com
Rooted in the artistic traditions of American hip-hop and experimental theatre, The Q
Brothers, led by two brothers GQ and JQ, are a company who are all part of the American
hip-hop scene as well as successful actors and directors.
This wasn’t a first for The Q Brothers; Othello: The Remix, which was co-produced by The
Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, followed their previous productions ‘Funk it up about Nuthin’
(Much Ado about Nothing) also co-produced by CST and their first Shakespeare Ad-rapptation in 2000 - ‘The Bombitty of Errors’ (The Comedy of Errors).
Othello: The Remix does not just translate Othello into hip-hop, but adapts the story
to a hip-hop setting, where all the characters are clear archetypes within that world.
Shakespeare’s play is set against the backdrop of armed conflict, with Othello a General in
the Venetian army, deployed by the Duke of Venice to defend their interests in Cyprus.
Othello: The Remix re-sets the action on tour with Othello, the greatest MC of his
generation, and his crew. In the world of hip-hop the mix of heightened maculinty, ambition,
bravado and competition provides the ideal context for replaying Shakespeare’s classic tale.
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OTHELLO: THE REMIX
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THE CAST
JACKSON DORAN (CASSIO, EMILIA)
POSTELL PRINGLE (OTHELLO)
GQ (CREATOR/DIRECTOR, IAGO, BRABANTIO)
JQ (CREATOR/DIRECTOR, RODERIGO, LOCO VITO, BIANCA)
CLAYTON STAMPER (DJ)
THE CREATIVE TEAM
RICK BOYNTON
SCOTT DAVIS JESSE KLUG JAMES SAVAGE MELISSA VEAL SOPHIE GRIMM PAGE 4
DEVELOPMENT
SCENIC AND COSTUME DESIGNER
LIGHTING DESIGNER
SOUND DESIGNER
WIG AND MAKE-UP DESIGNER
ADDITIONAL VOCALS
A BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE ORIGINAL
AND THE RE-MIXED VERSIONS OF OTHELLO
WRITTEN BY THE Q BROTHERS
OTHELLO: THE REMIX
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SHAKESPEARE'S STORY OF OTHELLO...
Desdemona, the daughter of a nobleman of Venice, has just eloped with Othello, a hired general in
the Venetian army—and a Moor.
Roderigo, lovesick for Desdemona, is assured by Iago that he, too, hates Othello, who has promoted
Cassio over him as lieutenant.
Desdemona’s father, Brabantio, seeks the full justice of Venetian law, but the Duke is concerned
with pressing affairs of state: the Turks threaten Venetian interests in Cyprus, and Othello’s service is
required.
Othello prepares to leave for Cyprus with his new bride.
Iago plots to make Othello believe that the young Venetian officer Cassio is Desdemona’s lover.
‘Shakespeare is the language which brings us together better than any
other, and which reminds of our almost infinite difference, and of our
Iago plies Cassio with drink and then gets Roderigo to provoke a fight; Iago looks on as Othello
strange and humbling commonality. And above all there are the plays
dismisses his new lieutenant.
themselves, plays which have travelled far and wide, and which on their
travels have midwifed new theatre cultures, spread light and laughter, and
Iago suggests Cassio ask Desdemona’s help to get back in Othello’s favour. He then suggests to
helped nations, new and old, to define themselves.’
Othello that his wife’s interest in Cassio’s misfortunes may signify her infidelity.
Dominic Dromgoole - Artistic Director of the Globe Theatre
www.globetoglobe.shakespearesglobe.com
Othello insists that he needs proof of her infidelity; he needs to see with his own eyes and not just
hear rumours and suggestions.
Othello’s first gift to Desdemona, a handkerchief, is misplaced and, with help from Iago’s wife Emilia,
ends up in Cassio’s possession.
Othello sees Cassio with the handkerchief and overhears a conversation between Iago and Cassio –
he thinks they are talking about Desdemona, when they are in fact discussing Bianca, a prostitute
that Cassio knows.
For service to his general, Iago is appointed Othello’s new lieutenant.
Stunned by her husband’s accusations, Desdemona pleads with Othello—first for his compassion,
then for her life. He does not spare her.
As Emilia comes to understand her husband’s crimes, she is murdered for the truth she dares to
speak. Tormented by remorse and grief, Othello takes his own life.
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OTHELLO: THE REMIX
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...IS REMIXED INTO...
Against all odds, MC Othello escapes the ghetto by giving rhythm and voice to the stories of the
people in his hood.
As he rises to the top of the music industry, he is living proof of the “American dream.”
Othello falls in love with Desdemona, a beautiful singer whose vocals add the final piece that catapults him to stardom. They marry, despite her aristocratic father’s disapproval, and are sent by Loco
Vito, the CEO of the record label, on a national tour.
Other members of the crew include Cassio, a glitzy pop music rapper, and Iago, a hardcore underground lyricist and hip hop purist.
Othello decides to release Cassio’s
album next
an effortwhich
to reach
a wider
audience.
‘Shakespeare
is theinlanguage
brings
us together
better than any
other, and which reminds of our almost infinite difference, and of our
Angered by this decision, Iagostrange
vows toand
take
Othellocommonality.
down.
humbling
And above all there are the plays
themselves, plays which have travelled far and wide, and which on their
He enlists the help of Roderigo,
the nerdy,
socially new
awkward
lighting
designer
tour—and
in love
travels
have midwifed
theatre
cultures,
spreadon
light
and laughter,
and
with Desdemona.
helped nations, new and old, to define themselves.’
Dominic Dromgoole - Artistic Director of the Globe Theatre
With a promise to win him thewww.globetoglobe.shakespearesglobe.com
heart of the one he loves, Iago steals Roderigo’s money and sells him
on his plan to remove Cassio from the group.
Meanwhile, Iago continues to plant seeds of jealousy in Othello about a fabricated affair between
Desdemona and Cassio.
Further upset by Cassio’s bizarre behavior at an important album release event, Othello kicks him out
of the group.
Iago convinces Roderigo to kill Cassio. Roderigo bungles the murder attempt and Iago, worried that
his plan will be uncovered, kills Roderigo himself.
Othello, now on the brink of insanity, flies into a jealous rage and murders his love, Desdemona.
Iago’s wife Emilia enters to find her friend dead, and reveals the truth of her husband’s evil plot.
In the wake of this overpowering news, Othello takes his own life.
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OTHELLO: THE REMIX
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CONTEXT FOR THE PLAY
HIP-HOP – A BRIEF HISTORY
This is a story about this one fellow
The greatest emcee, MC Othello
He evolved from an artist who could pen rhymes phat
Into a brilliant song writer and went ten times plat
Critics called him the greatest poet of the century
From Othello: The Remix
Understanding the roots of hip-hop and its cultural context will be useful for students critically
analysing the play and as context for the extended drama activity. The Learning Team at The
Chicago Shakespeare Theater wrote a brief introduction to hip-hop when the production opened
in Chicago earlier this year:
The “four elements” of hip-hop—emceeing, deejaying, graffiti, and breaking—form the core of a
creative, energizing, and bonding subculture that engenders freedom of expression.
The roots of hip-hop can be found in the songs of James Brown, the taunts of Muhammad Ali,
the “toasts” of deejays in Jamaica, even as far back as West Africa’s griots—travelling storytellers
and singers. It originated in the early 1970s at house parties and block parties in the Bronx, an
area devastated by misguided urban planning.
A distinctive feature of hip-hop is showing off skills, boasting and one-upmanship. Improvised or
memorized, self-aggrandizing raps spun by emcees—anecdotes, jokes, rhymes and poetry—are
used as introductions, shout outs, insults and challenges to rival emcees. These are sometimes
formalized into actual contests, battles raps where competitors vie for the loudest audience
approval.
Hip-hop was largely an underground, live phenomenon until The Sugarhill Gang released
“Rapper’s Delight” in 1979, which made it to #36 in the Billboard charts. Throughout the ’80s,
the style diversified musically, and factions began to appear, with some emphasizing the party and
dance atmosphere while others embraced political, even militant and confrontational agendas.
Hip-hop has achieved dominance as the most popular music in the United States, and is heard,
and performed, globally. It continues to evolve and become more eclectic, borrowing from jazz,
soul, and rock, incorporating live instrumentation and local idiom all over the world.
For the full introuduction visit the Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s website (see Further Reading).
British hip-hop has its own characteristics. Homespun hip-hop, draws on stateside hip-hop but
is also heavily influenced by the reggae sound system culture that travelled from Jamaica in the
1960’s and bought with it a different sense of rhythm and instrumentation.
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CONTEXT CONTINUED...
SHAKESPEARE AND HIP-HOP; MUSICALITY, LYRICISM AND STORYTELLING
The connection between Shakespeare’s theatre and hip-hop says GQ writer, director and
performer in Othello: The Remix, lies in musicality, lyricism and storytelling.
When you boil it down Shakespeare was telling stories through poetry and musical language. That’s
what I would say is the most basic thing that he did and that is the most basic thing that rappers do.
GQ who wrote Othello: The Remix with his brother JQ, had worked as a hip-hop artist and
trained as an actor before working on his first Shakespeare play ‘Bombitty of Errors’ in 2000. He
talks about his difficulty with being made to read Shakespeare in school: I grew up with a reading
disability, I hated Shakespeare growing up. I was crying ‘why am I being made to read this? This is
some rich white people who want me to learn some other language’. He explains the moment when
Shakespeare clicked; he was given a part in a Shakespeare play working with director Steve Wan.
The rehearsal process was, for GQ, revelatory. They spent hours exploring the sounds in two
lines of Shakespeare’s text, playing with how the vowel or the consonant sounds informed the
meaning and emotion held in each word. They explored the lines of text physically; testing and
experimenting. Then it began to make sense for him.
I was like ‘oh this is music, wow’ for the first time in my life, it still moves my soul to think about it,
it was music, it was exactly what we were doing, (as rappers), to me it was seriously embedded in a
historical, classical form, and that unlocked my block to Shakespeare.
Peter Brook, director of celebrated Shakespeare productions of the 20th Century, talks about
the importance of musicality in Shakespeare and how understanding this changed his approach to
directing the plays. He writes about why, in his view, his early production of Romeo and Juliet at
the RSC failed:
What was missing was an overall tempo, an irresistible pulse to lead from one scene to another. I
had not yet learned that this was the basis of all Elizabethan theatre, and so began a long period of
discovery. ……..When after two years of opera I returned to Stratford to direct Measure for Measure,
I found that the immersion in music had brought me a new awareness of tempo and phrasing. Peter
Brook, The Quality of Mercy 2013
Akala, who runs the London based Hip-Hop Shakespeare Company agrees that: both hip-hop
music and Shakesepare’s theatre represent energetic and inventive forms of expression. Both are full of
poetry, word play and lyricism……just like Shakesepare’s work, hip-hop is all about the rhythmic tension
of words. (Akala’s TED talk - see Further Reading section)
Hip-hop combines rhythmic phrasing of vocals, often fast paced and intricate and known as
rapping or ‘spitting’ with a beat heavy backing track.
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CONTEXT CONTINUED...
Historically the accompanying music was made by isolating interesting sections of existing records
before repeating or looping these phrases. Achieved in the early days of hip hop by mixing between
two of the same records it subsequently morphed into sampling as technology progressed. Modern
productions still draw on these techniques alongside a more up to date, crafted, produced sound.
Where the overall rhythm or metre in Shakespeare’s blank verse is iambic pentameter, which
works within a structure of 10 syllables; 5 stressed, five unstressed in each line, hip hop, like a lot of
modern pop music, falls mostly into a 4/4 time signature.
The metre, the rhythm are key, but equally important are the sounds within individual words and
the relationship and patterns between words. Shakespeare, hip-hop and all forms of poetry use a
combination of devices amongst them alliteration, repetition, onomatopoeia, and assonance.
To cut to the chase there are many devices you use; alliteration and repetition and onomatopoeia and all
kinds of poetic devices that Shakespeare was using. Same thing that rappers are doing. GQ
In performing Shakespeare’s plays actors make important decisions about how to work with the
poetry; going with or cutting against the rhythm; where to lay emphasis; what to stress; how to
sound the vowels and the consonants within words.
Similarly in rapping it’s all about the delivery; the language and the flow of language; each MC will
have their distinctive style of performance; their own rhythm and flow.
If you want more on Shakespeare’s language the RSC have created a
detailed and accessible introduction, which simply explains his use of
prose, blank verse, rhyming verse and a range of poetic devices:
www.rsc.org.uk/downloads/rsc-shakespeares-language-2011.pdf
Shakespeare and hip-hop have stories to tell. Rapping is about giving voice to experience; it is
personal, often autobiographical; it is about telling your story and keeping it real; it’s about what
you know. In the US hip-hop emerged out of the civil rights movements of the 60’s and 70’s and
documented the Black American experience, but the lineage and the philosophy of hip-hop is
rooted further back.
Akala explains, in his TED talk, that the word ‘hip’ comes from the Senegalese word ‘hippy’, which
means ‘to open your eyes to see’, it’s a term of enlightenment. And that together, the words hip-hop
mean ‘intelligent movement’. Akala places hip-hop in the long tradition of storytellers, custodians of
knowledge and spiritual leaders who tell the truth about the world we live in.
The most sacred histories of ancient African nations were recorded by a man known as a Griot, who was
effectively a rapper. He would recite the nation’s history over a beat of a drum. So when hip-hop is put
back in its proper cultural context as a tradition that dates back hundreds if not thousands of years, you
realise that it is the same as The Iliad.
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CONTEXT CONTINUED...
In hip-hop culture knowledge is respected, in the 80s and 90s it was quite normal for rappers
to boast about how clever they were; to talk about kicking science, dropping knowledge, spreading
mathematics, at the same time as talking about life in the projects (Akala). Many lyrics are
concerned with understanding the world, signalling intelligence, displaying knowledge and
acknowledging the relationship between knowledge and power.
You can watch Akala’s TED talk for more on the links between hip-hop and Shakespeare and
the wider cultural debate around language and power here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSbtkLA3GrY
Taken together these hip-hop folk arts bear striking resemblance to the dramatic world realized
through the plays of William Shakespeare. The drama of life, the flash and fanfare of the upper
class, irony, misdirection, masking and, most importantly, language itself form the cultural currents
commonly navigated by Shakespeare and so many of his rapping counterparts in the 20th and 21st
Centuries. James Braxton Peterson - hip-hop acadmic (see Further Reading)
Shakespeare told complex stories; stories which showed human relationships across the social
spectrum; using the language of the court and tavern. Hip-hop when it first emerged told the
stories of a very specific section of urban society, with lyrics that referenced the harsh reality
of those lives. The verbal dexterity, the display of intelligent wordplay is a powerful ingredient in
the potency of rap; the empowering, often boastful language, the battling and the contest.
Where there are those who see hip-hop and rapping as giving voice to the disenfranchised and
marginalised, there are also those who vilify hip-hop, citing lyrics and videos which are perceived
as promoting violence, drug use, misogyny and homophobia.
Hip-hop and rap are on the whole male preserves, with few female hip-hop artists who manage
to hold their own in this very masculine environment. Miss Dynamite and Missy Elliott are
two female MCs who have made it big. The energy of contest, the rap battles, the boasting
and posturing is all part of the energy of rapping, but means that it will always be written off by
some people.
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CONTEXT CONTINUED...
Hip-hop moved from a sub-culture on the fringes of society to the mainstream of popular
music and became hugely commercially successful. It is at this point of tension in the evolution
of hip-hop that The Q Brothers see Othello: The Remix taking place:
There was a rift in hip-hop. It used to be if you were into hip-hop you had to know your history, the
knowledge. It’s not a counter-culture anymore, it is the culture. In my head this takes place as the
pop culture and the counter-culture were separating. A couple of the guys got really, really big. There
was this whole rift that was about ‘lyricism, lyricism, lyricism, we are not selling out’, and that’s what
Iago represents. At the same time all these pop rappers like Biggs and Jay Z (emerge). It was the first
time in hip-hop that it was really huge. Ambition became part of the culture; to be rich and come up
from nothing was part of it. At that time a lot of those guys got famous and you know Puff Daddy
and P Diddy would put on people like Mace, people who did come from Harlem, but sort of glitz it up.
So Cassio kind of represents that; glitzy, like oh we’re just crafting music now for the public, because
we can, we can be big.
GQ
More context for the play can be found on the Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s website (see
p.37).
PRODUCTION SHOT FROM OTHELLO: THE REMIX
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HOW THE Q BROTHERS MADE OTHELLO: THE REMIX
SHAKESPEARE – INTERPRETATION, TRANSLATION AND ADD-RAPP-TATION
Good story tellers borrow but great ones steal
Believe me thievery is how we keep it real
Both Shakespeare and hip-hop take and re-use from previous generations, as well as from
contemporaries. Shakesepare drew on a range of sources for his plays; the source material for
Othello is said to be based on a 16th Century Italian short story by Cinthio Un Capitano Moro (‘A
Moorish Captain’)
Sampling is an important part of hip-hop; taking elements of songs and mixing them up with beats
and other samples to create something new. For The Q Brothers taking Othello and mixing it up
to create something different was a natural way to work. It did however demand a long and very
detailed process.
The first stage for GQ was to go through the script and make a line by line translation into rhyme:
This is our process; I went into a garage and I didn’t come out for two to three weeks. It felt like I was
obsessed, ‘I’ve got to get every line’, it’s like a puzzle. At one point I was like ‘I can paraphrase, why don’t
I do that!’ but we didn’t take the short route.
I sit there with the OED (Oxford English Dictionary), my computer and the internet and two different
versions of Shakespeare’s play and ‘Shakespeare For Dummies. In that first translation I know every
single word.
This level of detailed work on the script ensured that Othello: The Remix was rooted in the
complexity of Shakespeare’s play and could use that as a spring board for the creation of a new,
original piece for the 21st Century. It was a gradual process, moving slowly away from the original
text.
There was a draft of the play which was very close to the original, that still had a lot of Shakespeare’s
language and all the sentiments are there page for page.
At the same time as GQ was locked away with the text, JQ started to write the beats for rapping
and the music for the piece. The collaborative process gives each of the brothers a clear role; GQ
is the point of reference for textual analysis:
I defer to you, when I read it, I burn through it, I’m looking at story arc and where songs will pop out and
timing. Like ‘oh we’ve gone 18 minutes without a song and this is a long time we’ve got to put something
in there because it’s a release for everybody’. I’ll be like ‘what does this mean’ and G says ‘oh it’s a
cultural reference to some king’, and I’ll be like ‘oh’ and we’ll talk about some other rapper (that could be
an equivalent).
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HOW THE Q BROTHERS MADE OTHELLO: THE REMIX CONTINUED...
JQ spoke about the creative challenge for him working on the Othello translation.
I was personally interested in making a piece with darker music. We had done ‘Much Ado’ which is a much
more light-hearted piece, it doesn’t really get serious.
I was able to get a lot richer with the music, a lot more strings, a lot of minor keys, big drums, you know
that kind of thing, things we weren’t able to do before, it wasn’t really appropriate before. For me that
was the excitement of it.
Once the line by line translation was done the brothers then began to look at how to make the
play work in their hip-hop setting, to find the parallels, truncate the play and make it work for four
actors and a DJ to perform.
FINDING A HOOK FOR A CHARACTER
Part of the process is to find the essence or the ‘hook’ for each character. Some were more straight
forward to translate than others: the main characters are all part of a hip-hop crew; Othello is the
greatest MC of his generation, and becomes the biggest name in hip-hop; Iago is an underground
rapper; Cassio is a more populist rapper he is like the pretty boy that hasn’t been into battle, who
Othello promotes over Iago; Roderigo is a nerdy technician on the tour. The character of Ludovico
however was a little more challenging to translate.
Shakespeare has the character of Ludovico, and he has the Duke and maybe even one other guy and
we’ve squished him into one character, Loco Vito.
The brothers needed a way represent The Duke and Lodovico, two characters who in Shakesepare’s
play represent Venetian authority. They started playing with the idea of a character Loco Vito, a
west side gangsta from Venice beach. As they were improvising with rhymes; playing around with
ideas JQ ended up rhyming ‘Venice’ with ‘tennis’.
We said that’s hilarious, that’s awesome, we said why does he like tennis? I said I don’t know. So we just
embraced it and then went through the script again and laced it with 40 tennis references and it made so
much sense of this guy who had made it from nothing, who runs a record company would either be into
polo or tennis. You see it all the time, Jay Z is into collecting Bentleys, it’s like the guys who make it rich
they want some rich guy thing to get into, like golf. Rappers starting wearing preppy polo shirts; Kanye
and Jay Z dress like Brooke’s brothers now. Cuffing the crease, argyle sweaters, you know, so anyway that
made sense and it was fun.
So our hook for him was ‘he’s a bad ass gangster, new money, but
loves this old money sport’, so that’s an example of a hook that we
consciously put in.
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HOW THE Q BROTHERS MADE OTHELLO: THE REMIX CONTINUED...
DESDEMONA, EMILIA, AND BIANCA
Another challenge was how to tell the story with a cast of only four actors and a DJ. The four
male actors play all of the parts including the roles of Emelia (Iago’s wife) and Bianca (a prostitute
who is friendly with Cassio). The Q Brothers didn’t make this decision to emulate performances
in Shakespere’s times, when male actors would play all roles; male and female. The decision was a
response to the challenge of how to portay Desdemona. While they interrogated the text for hooks
for the characters they found that Desdemona’s main characteristic was that she was this perfect,
pure, beautiful woman, who got won over by Othello’s stories, but she didn’t have a lot of depth to her.
So while the characters of Emilia and Bianca are played by Jackson and JQ, part of the multi-role
aesthetic of the production. It wouldn’t work to play Desdemona in this way, but nor would it work
to have only one female character played by a woman. Emilia and Bianca are played predominantly
as comic characters, albeit with growing depth and complexity as the tragedy unfolds. Desdemona
is the focus of Othello’s jealousy and the primary victim in the play.
We found that she worked more strongly as a device than as a believable character, she became an audio
device for people to be more affected by her presence and by her death. It’s super powerful because in
our story she falls in love with his underground music and his storytelling and his lyricism, but he does not
become a pop star until she starts singing hooks for him.
Desdemona is only encountered aurally; we first meet her when she and Othello make music
together.
Othello heard a beat
and brought his struggle to it
She brought the emotion to
elevate the music
The decision also gives the production a very distinct take on the difficult final scenes of the play,
where Othello accuses Desdemona, she pleads her innocence and he goes through with his brutal
murder, smothering her to death with a pillow. Seeing the powerful physicality of Othello but only
hearing Desdemona’s voice gives added tension to the powerful climax of the play.
Like in a horror movie seeing the reaction of the person (the perpetrator) is often more effective than if
you see the (victim’s) genuine reaction, it allows for your imagination to do so much more.
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SECTION TWO
DRAMA SESSIONS BEFORE AND AFTER YOUR VISIT
OVERVIEW
These drama sessions aim to allow students to:
• Explore the play actively in order to get more out of their experience as audience
• Engage with key themes of the play after their visit.
Activities are designed to be flexible so they can be used by Drama and English teachers and can
be adapted for use at Key Stage 3, GCSE and A Level.
Activities build sequentially, however you may need to add further activities to get your students
ready to work together. There are lots of warm up games and exercises that will fit thematically
and get your students ready to work. You may also want to add activities that link the work
directly to your teaching objectives. For example in the character work you may want to focus
more on physicality or status.
POSTELL PRINGLE AS OTHELLO
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SEQUENCE A
EXPLORING CHARACTER IN SHAKESPEARE’S OTHELLO
This sequence starts by exploring Shakespeare’s Othello, using selected moments and
fragments of original text to explore characters at the opening of the play in order to identify
an essence or ‘hook’ for a character.
ACTIVITY ONE: OTHELLO ‘STORY WHOOSH’
AIM
To introduce key characters in Shakespeare’s Othello and the dynamic between them at the
beginning of the play.
This is a ‘broad brush stroke’ activity to give an overview of
plot and character, rather than detailed character analysis.
RUNNING THE ACTIVITY
• Read the ‘story whoosh’ of Othello (Resource 1) to the whole class; make clear the 6
distinct moments you will be asking them to depict.
• Move the class into groups of 6 and ask them to allocate a main part for each member of
the group; Othello, Desdemona, Cassio, Iago, Roderigo, Brabantio.
• Read the ‘story whoosh’ out loud again, ask the groups to work simultaneously to create
a frozen image for each sentence in the whoosh, making as clear as possible relationships
between the characters.
• Ask students to negotiate each image in silence, working together using their first
instincts and building on each other’s ideas.
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ACTIVITY TWO: WORKING FROM TEXT
AIM
To explore Shakespeare’s text for clues into character and find the essence or hook for the
character to present to the whole group.
‘We were looking for essences and hooks for characters’
GQ speaking about the process of adapting Othello.
RUNNING THE ACTIVITY
First stage
• Divide the class into small groups and give each group one of the characters from Resource 2.
• Ask the group to recap what they remember about their character from the ‘Story Whoosh’
activity.
• Give each group the Shakespearian text related to their character (Resource 2); ask them
try to work out what their character is like by what others say about them and what they say
about themselves.
• Provide each group with a role-on-the wall (Resource 3).
• Ask students to write things they know about their character on the inside of the figure.
• Now write things they think might be true (things other people say about them or things
they have questions about) on the outside of the figure.
Second stage
• Give each group a character card to explore the essence of their character (Resource 4).
• Ask each group to fill out their character cards.
This is a ‘broad brush stroke’ activity to give an overview of
• plot
Askand
students
to make
a depiction
of their
character;
a still image that encapsulates who they
character,
rather
than detailed
character
analysis.
are. They may want to think about what the character might be wearing and whether the
important object is anywhere in the image with them.
• Ask all groups to present their characters to the rest of the group, using the still image and
reporting what they have recorded on their character cards.
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SEQUENCE B
ADAPTING SHAKESPEARE INTO A MODERN CONTEXT
Building on Sequence A, this activity explores the process of translating Shakespeare into a
contemporary setting. Emulating The Q Brothers’ own process, students are required to make
decisions that balance the core dynamics of the original text with the creative possibilities
provided by the new setting.
AIM
To explore how to adapt Shakespeare into different contemporary settings and some of the
creative processes which need to be gone through.
As most of the roles in this activity are male you will need to cast across
gender, just as Shakespeare and The Q Brothers do. The role Desdemona
plays in these scenes is crucial to the finished piece, despite having no lines
of dialogue.
RUNNING THE ACTIVITY
• Move the class into groups of 5.
• Give each group the three short scenes that show how Iago manipulates others (Resource 5).
You may want to start with just one scene with some groups and let them
work on that before introducing the other two scenes. If you choose to do
that use one of the scenes with 5 characters.
• Ask the group to cast and read the scenes, then get them on their feet and walk through the
scenes. Remind them that an audience would be interested in watching what happens as well
as listening to what is being said.
• Now ask students to try to make a line by line translation into contemporary language of each
scene.
Try to find a balance in the translations between working with initial ideas
and guesses and going back to the text to interrogate for meaning.
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RUNNING THE ACTIVITY CONTINUED...
• Once groups have made their translations give each group a new setting for their adaptation.
• Now students need to rewrite and rehearse their three scenes in their new setting, paying
particular attention to language; the appropriate register for their setting. Additional dialogue
will need to be added to help set the scene.
• It is important to try to keep the dynamic between the characters as it is in Shakespeare’s
Othello, but what happens in the scenes may change quite considerably.
• Remember to place Desdemona in these scenes too. How does her role change in this new
setting?
POSSIBLE NEW SETTINGS
Lawyers at the law courts / Politicians in the Houses of Parliament Bar /
A chicken shop / Contestants on Britains Got Talent / Market place /
Prison / Hosptial.
Or, students may want to think of their own setting.
• You will need to encourage a discussion about the culture of these different settings; what
kind of world this is, what kind of codes of behaviour operate in this setting and what kind of
language is used?
EXTENDING THE ACTIVITY
Student’s scene making can be developed into performance with further research and thinking
around the setting.
• Set homework; ask students to research their setting; thinking about costume, design,
physicality and music. Bring in images, music and video that might be relevant to your setting.
• Research words that belong or originate in that context/setting. Think about how that might
relate to the codes that operate in that setting. What is important to the people in this world?
• Develop the performances with particular attention to the relationship between the three
scenes; for example ask the group to show their work employing the use of split screen,
narration and music to underscore. How would the group manage the transitions between the
three scenes?
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SEQUENCE C
EXTENDED DRAMA - OTHELLO AND DESDEMONA: THE HOT TOPIC
This sequence of activities places students in role as people who knew, or felt they knew, Othello
and Desdemona before and during the action of the play. Activities are sequenced in a way to
allow students to build belief in the role they are creating and the world they are a part of. The
final whole group improvisation, the filming of the chat show ‘The Hot Topic’, is the climax of
the drama where different perspectives and attitudes can be explored from within the fictional
context of the play.
Activity One can be done either before or after your visit to Othello: The Remix. Activities Two
- Four need to be run after your visit to the theatre as knowledge of the events of the play is the
heart of the drama work.
ACTIVITY ONE: WHAT PEOPLE SAID ABOUT OTHELLO AND DESDEMONA
AIM
Using text from Othello: The Remix, build a picture of Othello and Desdemona’s relationship
when they first got together.
RUNNING THE ACTIVITY
• First ask two volunteers to read the back-story of Othello and Desdemona from the play as a
reminder (Resource 6).
• Give each student one line from the text that says something about their relationship
(Resource 7).
• Ask students to move around the room familiarising themselves with their line.
• When you say ‘stop’ students stop and all speak their line out loud at the same time.
• This time when you say ‘stop’ students find a partner and share their lines, as if they are
exchanging a piece of gossip.
• Repeat the activity a few times so that everyone hears a range of opinions and comments
about Othello and Desdemona.
• Come back to a circle and ask people to share some of the things they have heard said about
the couple. What kind of a picture of their relationship are we forming?
KEY QUESTIONS
Are Othello and Desdemona suited?
What are the pressures on their relationship?
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ACTIVITY TWO: THE PEOPLE WHO KNEW THEM
AIM
For students to explore their responses to the play through in-role work as a character that would
care about and have an opinion on what happened to Othello and Desdemona.
RUNNING THE ACTIVITY
• Discuss who might have been talking about the tragic events at the end of the play? Who
might have an opinion on the events? (draw out thoughts about who might have spoken in
the media, close friends family, employee’s, people who have an opinion about hip-hop and its
influence in society). What might they be saying? Record ideas on a large piece of paper/white
board.
Othello and Desdemona in the play are world famous artists, similar to Jay
Z and Beyonce or Chris Brown and Rhianna. The impact of such a murder
and suicide would be talked about all over the world.
First Stage
• Ask students to choose a character to be that is connected to the couple in some way. They
may choose to be a fan who feels very close to them, they may be someone who knew them
from their childhood (remember their back stories), a family member, someone who works
with them (cleaners and catering staff , record producers, makeup artists, designers etc),
someone from a church group, or someone in the media.
• Ask students to individually create a frozen image that shows them just after they have heard
the news of Othello and Desdemona’s deaths.
• Thought track some of the characters.
Second Stage
• Explain that we are going to create the setting for a televised chat show called The Hot Topic.
The discussion this week will be: ‘Why did Othello and Desdemona die, and was it inevitable?’
INFORMATION TO SET THE SCENE
The news of these celebrity deaths has dominated the news for days.
Everyone is talking about what has happened and how it came to happen. The
great audience chat show – The Hot Topic – is having a debate. It’s like a mix
between Question Time, Jeremy Kyle and The Oprah Winfrey Show.
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ACTIVITY TWO CONTINUED
• Explain that everyone has been invited as guests on the show. The producers want people who
have a strong connection with the couple, but also those who have opinions about the couple
and their lifestyle.
• Explain that everyone is back stage in the green room before the live recording. Create a
whole group image of this moment. Ask people to think about how they are feeling about
events and what they are thinking.
• When the image has been created bring it to life for a whole group improvisation. Ask
students to introduce themselves to other people, saying who they are and why they are
there.
• Use a listening hand or spotlight listen into some of the conversations: this freezes the action
of the majority so that we can hear one conversation.
Third Stage
• The improvisation now moves into the studio for recording. You may want to enlist the class’
help in creating the layout for the studio.
• When everyone is in position, move into role as the host and welcome all the guests to the
studio for tonight’s The Hot Topic. It is worth writing and rehearsing your introduction in order
to seed possible areas for fruitful discussion.
INTRODUCTION FROM HOST (TEACHER-IN-ROLE)
Welcome to The Hot Topic, tonight we are discussing this terrible tragedy which has been
reported throughout the world. We welcome our studio audience which includes family,
friends and colleagues. Those who knew Othello and Desdemona personally, and those
who knew them only through their music. The questions we are asking this evening:
• What does this tragedy tell us about the world we are living in and the hip-hop industry?
• How and why did this happen? Was it their different backgrounds? Was their
relationship doomed from the start?
• Was Othello always going to revert to type – his mother was a crack addict; he grew
up in the ghetto surrounded by gang culture? Some say a Leopard can never change its
spots.
• Some say they weren’t really in love, that it was all a publicity stunt, they did it for the
record sales.
• Is hip-hop to blame? Some say this is a male dominated world with no respect for
women.
• And what kind of example do they set to young people?
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• Facilitate the debate in role as the chat show host and bring in as many differing viewpoints
from the audience as possible.
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ACTIVITY TWO CONTINUED
As the discussion evolves challenge students’ thinking from within the role play. It is worth
preparing some statements that you can quote, for example opinions from church leaders, women
refuge organisations, other family members, those that work in the industry etc. You may develop
debate around the themes of jealousy and ambition, the cultural and political context, masculinity
and misogyny, materialism and competition within the world depicted in Othello: The Remix.
POSSIBLE VIEWPOINTS
Othello was an artist - he spoke for a generation. His only flaw was that he
loved Desdemona too much and Iago was able to exploit that.
Hip-hop is a misogynist culture that gives status to male posturing and
dominance.
Hip-hop is cartoon-like and not real – it is just like wrestling; putting on an
act, people shouldn’t take it seriously.
Hip-hop is an expression of a harsh reality, it is survival of the fittest, dog
eat dog world. It’s about energy, contest and survival. Those that criticise are
from privileged backgrounds and don’t understand that world.
If we glamourise ambition, money and status in this way, this kind of tragedy
is inevitable.
• Bring the debate to an end, thank the guests and sum up the conversation and questions
posed as the television host.
EXTENDING THE ACTIVITY
There are opportunities for creative writing out of this drama work - either in role as their
characters writing a diary entry later that day, or as a journalist writing a review of the television
programme.
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RESOURCE 1 : OTHELLO STORY WHOOSH
1.
Othello is a great general in the Venetian army; he is admired and respected by the noblemen of Venice. But being from North Africa he is also an outsider.
2.
Othello secretly marries Desdemona.
3.
Desdemona’s father Brabantio, an important man in Venice, finds out about the wedding and is furious. He disowns Desdemona.
4.
Othello promotes one of his soldiers, Cassio, to be his second in command. Iago has not been promoted, but thinks he should have been instead of Cassio.
PAGE 24
5.
Roderigo, a rich Venetian noble man, is in love with Desdemona. No-one knows, but Iago has noticed.
6.
Iago points out to Roderigo that Cassio and Desdemona are very friendly with each other. He persuades Roderigo that he can win Desdemona; he says that Desdemona will lose interest in Othello.
OTHELLO: THE REMIX
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RESOURCE 2 : TEXT FOR CHARACTER WORK - OTHELLO
OTHELLO
• Othello is a great and respected general in Venice. Being from North Africa he
is also an outsider.
• He has married Desdemona in secret and without her father Brabantio’s
consent.
• He wooed Desdemona through telling her stories of his adventures and bravery
as a soldier.
WHAT OTHELLO SAYS ABOUT HIMSELF:
Rude am I in my speech,
And little bless’d with the soft phrase of peace:
And little of this great world can I speak,
More than pertains to feats of broil and battle…
WHAT OTHERS SAY ABOUT OTHELLO:
The noblemen of Venice:
…the warlike Moor Othello…
…brave Othello…
DESDEMONA’S FATHER, BRABANTIO, ACCUSES OTHELLO O thou foul thief, where hast thou stow’d my daughter?
Damn’d as thou art, thou hast enchanted her;
That thou hast practised on her with foul charms,
Abused her delicate youth with drugs or minerals
That weaken motion
IAGO ON OTHELLO
I hate the Moor:
And it is thought abroad, that ‘twixt my sheets
He has done my office…
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RESOURCE 2 : TEXT FOR CHARACTER WORK - IAGO
IAGO
•
•
•
•
Iago is an officer in the Venetian army under Othello’s authority.
He wanted to be promoted to lieutenant, but Othello promoted Cassio instead.
Iago begins to spread lies and rumours.
He points out to Roderigo that Desdemona and Cassio are very friendly.
WHAT IAGO SAYS ABOUT HIMSELF:
But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve
For daws to peck at. I am not what I am.
WHAT IAGO SAYS ABOUT HUMANKIND:
We cannot all be masters, nor all masters
Cannot be truly follow’d.
Our bodies are our gardens, to the which
our wills are gardeners: so that if we will plant
nettles, or sow lettuce… why, the
power and corrigible authority of this lies in our wills.
I never found man
that knew how to love himself.
WHAT OTHERS SAY ABOUT IAGO:
Othello: Iago is most honest…
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RESOURCE 2 : TEXT FOR CHARACTER WORK - RODERIGO
RODERIGO
• Roderigo is a rich Venetian noble man; he is in love with Desdemona.
• Iago persuades Roderigo that he can win Desdemona (with Iago’s) help. He
suggests that Desdemona will lose interest in Othello.
• Iago plants a seed: he tells Roderigo that he suspects that Cassio and
Desdemona are attracted to each other.
WHAT RODERIGO SAYS ABOUT HIMSELF:
I will incontinently drown myself.
It is silliness to live when to live is torment; and
then have we a prescription to die when death is our physician.
WHAT OTHERS SAY ABOUT RODERIGO:
Iago: Now, my sick fool Roderigo,
Whom love hath turn’d almost the wrong side out..
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RESOURCE 2 : TEXT FOR CHARACTER WORK - CASSIO
CASSIO
• Cassio is a young attractive soldier in the Venetian army.
• Othello has recently promoted Cassio, despite Cassio having little experience of
fighting.
WHAT CASSIO SAYS ABOUT HIMSELF:
I have very poor and
unhappy brains for drinking: I could well wish
courtesy would invent some other custom of
entertainment.
WHAT OTHERS SAY ABOUT CASSIO:
Iago:
One Michael Cassio, a Florentine,
A fellow almost damn’d in a fair wife;
That never set a squadron in the field,
Nor the division of a battle knows
More than a spinster; unless the bookish theoric,
Wherein the toged consuls can propose
As masterly as he: mere prattle, without practise,
Is all his soldiership.
Iago:
If I can fasten but one cup upon him,
With that which he hath drunk to-night already,
He’ll be as full of quarrel and offence
As my young mistress’ dog.
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RESOURCE 2 : TEXT FOR CHARACTER WORK - DESDEMONA
DESDEMONA
• Desdemona is the daughter of a powerful nobleman of Venice.
• Desdemona secretly married Othello behind her father’s back
• When her father challenges her she chooses Othello over her father and her
father disowns her.
WHAT DESDEMONA SAYS ABOUT HERSELF:
WHAT OTHERS SAT ABOUT DESDEMONA:
Brabantio: O heaven! How got she out? O treason of the blood!
(her Father)
Fathers, from hence trust not your daughters’ minds
By what you see them act.
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Iago:
It cannot be that Desdemona should long continue her
love to the Moor…………….She must
change for youth: when she is sated with his body,
she will find the error of her choice: she must
have change, she must:
Cassio:
She’s a most exquisite lady.
Indeed, she’s a most fresh and delicate creature.
An inviting eye; and yet methinks right modest.
She is indeed perfection.
Iago:
I’ll warrant her, fun of game.
What an eye she has! methinks it sounds a parley of provocation.
And when she speaks, is it not an alarum to love?
Look to her, Moor, if thou hast eyes to see:
She has deceived her father, and may thee.
RESOURCE 3 : ROLE ON THE WALL OUTLINE
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RESOURCE 4 : CHARACTER CARD
NAME:
POWER RATING:
AMBITION:
WEAKNESS:
SPECIAL SKILLS:
IMPORTANT OBJECT:
3 WORDS THEY WOULD USE TO DESCRIBE THEMSELVES:
3 WORDS OTHER PEOPLE WOULD USE TO DESCRIBE THEM:
LINE OF TEXT THAT GIVES THE STRONGEST CLUE:
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RESOURCE 5 : SCENES FOR ADAPTATION ACTIVITY
IAGO AND RODERIGO
ACT II, SC I
(Desdemona and Cassio are in the scene, but at a distance and out of earshot of Iago and
Roderigo)
IAGO
(About Cassius)
first, I must tell thee this--Desdemona is
directly in love with him.
RODERIGO
With him! why, ‘tis not possible.
IAGO
Mark me with what violence she first loved the Moor,
but for bragging and telling her fantastical lies:
Her eye must be fed; her delicate tenderness will
begin to disrelish and abhor the Moor; very nature will
compel her to some second choice.
Now, sir, who stands so eminent in the degree of this fortune as Cassio
does, the knave is handsome, young,
RODERIGO
I cannot believe that in her; she’s full of
most blessed condition.
IAGO
Didst thou not see her paddle with the palm of his hand?
Didst not mark that?
RODERIGO
Yes, that I did; but that was but courtesy.
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RESOURCE 5 : SCENES FOR ADAPTATION ACTIVITY
IAGO & CASSIO
ACT II, SC II
IAGO
Come, lieutenant, I have a stoup of wine;
CASSIO
Not to-night, good Iago: I have very poor and
unhappy brains for drinking:
IAGO
O, they are our friends; but one cup: I’ll drink for
you.
CASSIO
I have drunk but one cup to-night,
I am unfortunate in the infirmity,
and dare not task my weakness with any more.
IAGO
What, man! ‘tis a night of revels: the gallants
desire it.
CASSIO
I’ll do’t; but it dislikes me.
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RESOURCE 5 : SCENES FOR ADAPTATION ACTIVITY
IAGO & OTHELLO
ACT III, SC III
(Cassio and Desdemona are noticed leaving by Iago)
IAGO
Ha! I like not that.
OTHELLO
What dost thou say?
IAGO
Nothing, my lord: or if--I know not what.
OTHELLO
Was not that Cassio parted from my wife?
IAGO
Cassio, my lord! No, sure, I cannot think it,
That he would steal away so guilty-like,
Seeing you coming.
OTHELLO
I do believe ‘twas he.
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RESOURCE 6 : CHARACTER BACK-STORIES (FROM OTHELLO: THE REMIX)
DESDEMONA’S BACK-STORY
She grew up in the burbs in a house with six floors
With more stuff than anybody could wish for
The fanciest threads the sweetest rides
But still she was missin something deep inside
Her mother died due to complications at birth
She was raised by a nanny and a maid and a nurse
Her father bought her things showed her love in this way
But she got lost in the sounds of Othello’s first mix-tape
OTHELLO’S BACK-STORY
I never knew my pops, moms was a junkie
Raised by the streets with the beats that are funky
Concrete and metal, a child of the ghetto
Lookin’ for the loot, there was none for Othello
I walk by people smokin dumb rocks
Either ya slang crack or ya got a wicked jump shot
I couldn’t shoot, so I grabbed the microphone
Spittin stories for these people from this place I call home
I survived the impossible
Caught in gang crossfire and crawled to the hospital
My hood was riots and uprising
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RESOURCE 7 : ABOUT OTHELLO & DESDEMONA
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Her vocal tracks and choruses supported his intensity.
He caught the heart of Desdemona she gave him her empathy she knew it was meant to be.
Her father couldn’t take it.
They knew their love was pure and true and truly something sacred. It was love at first sight.
They knew it was forever the moment they locked eyes.
He said - I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life / And I cannot be complete till I
make you my wife.
Her Dad said: This has to be a joke. Forgive me, but I’m just a little bit reticent to
understand how he attracts a child so innocent. Perfect and pure, sweet and lily-white, it’s
silly right to think he’d be the one she’d really like.
Othello never knew his pops and his mom was a junkie.
Othello survived the impossible - Caught in gang crossfire and crawled to the hospital
His hood was riots and uprising.
He said he won’t be satisfied hearin his name till he got the perfect dame wearin his chain.
Her face, so much beauty that it shattered him.
Othello heard a beat and brought his struggle to it / She brought the emotion to elevate the
music.
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FURTHER READING /
USEFUL WEBSITES
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CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE THEATER WEBSITE
www.chicagoshakes.com
Includes essays on the relationship between Shakespeare and poetic folk-culture in hip-hop, full cast biogs,
an interview with the Producer of the show and other teaching materials.
There are also links to video clips from Othello: The Remix, audio clips from post-show discussions with the
company and the full article by James Braxton Peterson: A Scholar’s Perspective.
INTERPRETING AND ADAPTING SHAKESPEARE PLAYS Here are links to a few examples:
BBC: www.bbc.co.uk/drama/shakespeare/
IMDB: www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1771962649/
REVIEWS OF OTHELLO: THE REMIX
The Telegraph: www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/william-shakespeare/9254140/Hip-Hop-OthelloThe-Globe-Theatre-London-review.html
The Guardian: www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2012/may/07/othello-review
British Theatre Guide: www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/othello-the-rem-pleasance-court-7801
AKALA & THE UK HIP-HOP SHAKESPEARE COMPANY
www.hiphopshakespeare.com
TED talk on Shakespeare & hip-hop: www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSbtkLA3GrY
Interview in the Guardian: www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2009/apr/15/shakespeare-hip-hip-rap
Talking about misconceptions about hip-hop: www.guardian.co.uk/music/2013/jun/02/akala-thievesbanquet-rap-interview
AN OVER VIEW OF HIP-HOP
Including characteristics of hip-hop, rhythmic structure, instrumentation and production, history, social
impact and censorship issues.
Urban Dictionary: www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Hip%20Hop%20Music&defid=2125133
GLOSSARY OF HIP-HOP TERMS
www.mrwiggles.biz/ghetto_glossary.htm
ARTICLES ON HIP-HOP AND WOMEN AND THE DEBATE AROUND HOMOPHOBIA
The Guardian: www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2013/jan/24/hip-hop-woman-world
www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jan/17/jay-z-bitch-rapper-hip-hop
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FURTHER READING /
USEFUL WEBSITES
OTHELLO: THE REMIX
RESOURCE PACK
TEACHING RESOURCE
US poetry and rap scheme of work using ‘The Anthology of Rap’ as a guide looking at four defining eras of
hip-hop culture over four decades:
Part 1: 1978-1984 ‘The Old School’
Part 2: 1985-1992 ‘The Golden Age’
Part 3: 1993-1999 ‘Rap Goes Mainstream’
Part 4: 2000-2010 ‘New Millennium Rap’
www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/teachers/lessonplans/arts/july-dec10/rap_12-10.html
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