Closed Captioned
Study Guide
Grades 10-12, College, Adult
Directed by Dug Rotstein
Produced by Eric Weinthal and Eugenia Education Foundation
DVD Purchase $79, Rent $45
US Release Date: 2007
Copyright Date: 2006
DVD ISBN: 1-59458-615-2
VHS ISBN: 1-59458-614-4
Subjects
English Literature
Humanities
Language Arts
Performing Arts
Race and Racism
Shakespeare
Social Psychology
Theater
Values
Awards and Festivals
Honorable Mention, Columbus International Film & Video Festival
Othello
A video guide to one of Shakespeare's greatest tragedies, dealing with revenge and pride.
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"Excellent...The performances are unusually good and will bring the play to life for students." David Laubach, Associate Professor of English, Kutztown University |
Pride, humiliation, jealousy and revenge play out in the action of this noble tragedy, where trusted Iago takes steely pleasure in orchestrating each man's doom, manipulating Othello and Cassio so that they participate in their own, and each other's, destruction. Othello's world falls apart under Iago's insinuating lies, crafted to disparage the honor of Desdemona. A noble commander is brought down by his vengeful lieutenant.
A Taste of Shakespeare: Othello - seventh in the series - presents an abridged version of the play. The great scenes are acted out in the language of the play while a narrator comments on the action in the language of today. This introductory program offers an interpretation of the play as well as student activities that involve the class in a close reading of the text.
Other titles in this ongoing series are:
Hamlet - A video guide to Shakespeare's most famous play.
The Merchant of Venice - A video guide to the play from Shylock's point of view.
A Midsummer Night's Dream - A video guide to the loveliest of Shakespeare's romantic comedies.
Romeo and Juliet - A video guide to this cautionary tale of teenage love.
King Lear - A video guide to one of Shakespeare's greatest tragedies.
Macbeth - A video guide to Shakespeare's "tragedy of blood".
Reviews
"A TASTE OF SHAKESPEARE is the answer to a teacher's prayer. It serves a pressing need by introducing students to the plays of William Shakespeare in a way that makes each play accessible and compelling viewing. [Each program] maintains the language and key scenes of the play which are tied together by an intelligently crafted connecting summary. The result in each case is a thoroughly informative and entertaining overview of the key themes and motifs of each of the drama...the students' appetites for the whole play will be well wetted. Equally important, they will be able to undertake their study of the text with a clear understanding of its over-arching architecture and a real feel for its drama and language. This is unquestionably the most satisfying, authoritative and pedagogically useful video introduction to the...plays of William Shakespeare I have seen. This series is a superb achievement - a wonderful marriage of modern scholarship and media production."