Athenaeum Theatre
October 17, 2018

All but forgotten after Verdi tackled Shakespeare’s Othello to much acclaim in 1887, Rossini’s earlier interpretation is only now making its Australian premiere. Adding to the anticipation of this, Melbourne Opera’s 2018 finale, was having renowned film and opera director Bruce Beresford at the production’s helm. However, the libretto’s English translation only emphasises the absence of what made Shakespeare’s play and Verdi’s adaptation dramatically powerful, and puts a sometimes shaky cast on the back foot.

First performed in Naples in 1816, Rossini’s Otello is set in Venice, where the eponymous, African-born general returns victorious. He is welcomed by all except the jealous Iago and Rodrigo, whose pursuit of Desdemona seems hopeless as she loves Otello. Nevertheless, her father, Elmiro, announces that she will marry Rodrigo, and Otello’s jealousy is heightened when the scheming Iago shows him a misdirected love letter. Passions boil over, culminating in the bedchamber murder-suicide drawn directly from Shakespeare.

Stephen Smith and Elena Xanthoudakis in Melbourne Opera’s Otello. Photo © Robin Halls

What comes before is only loosely based on The Bard, so there’s not one moment of love between Desdemona and Otello to raise the...