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maltatoday | SUNDAY • 23 FEBRUARY 2020 7 CULTURE THEATRE ARTISTIC Director Kenneth Zammit Tabona has unofficial- ly dubbed 2020 as the year of Amore e Gelosia, as it was his idea to stage the three versions of Otello in one calendar year. March will see Rossini's Otello staged at Teatru Manoel, fol- lowed by Verdi's version staged at Gozo's very own Gaulitana Music Festival. In October 2020, Teatru Manoel will be producing Shakespeare's Othello, the play that has been the catalyst for the two aforementioned operas. When asked about the rele- vance of Otello today, Tabona said, "Love and jealousy are emo- tions that although seemingly diametrically opposed sadly of- ten are inextricably intertwined. This is Othello in a nutshell; the Moor of Venice who was mad- ly in love with the aristocratic Desdemona only to be led on into a frenzy of jealousy by the conniving Iago into murdering her when she was totally inno- cent. It tragically happens today when Femicide, as it is called, still blots our reputation as a civ- ilised country turning men into beasts." For the production of Rossini's version, which will premiere on 1 March Tabona chose Mar- co Mencoboni to conduct and Vivien Hewitt to stage the opera. Otello might be a lesser-known work of Rossini, but it is by all means a milestone in the de- velopment of opera as musical drama. The work is based on a French adaptation of the story Othello, ou le More de Venise by Jean-François Ducis, and pre- miered at Teatro del Fondo in Naples in December 1816. This exciting new production will bring us back to the sump- tuous world of the Venetian Re- naissance. Main place of action is the iconic Ca' d'Oro. The cos- tumes are based on the wood- blocks by Titian's nephew Ce- sare Vecellio. Set and Costumes are all created in-house by the fabulous teams of Dorothy Ebe- jer and Ray Farrugia. Vivien Hewitt is delighted to be back at the Manoel Theatre after a break of 26 years to stage this veritable milestone in operatic history. When asked about the strength of the work she said: "It is a marvellous opera rich in melodic inspiration but also dramaturgically very advanced for the period and a delight to stage. Unlike the Shakespeare play, Rossini's Otello is entirely set in Venice and at the centre of the story are a letter and a lock of hair rather than a handker- chief. Before the start of the op- era Desdemona has been seen by her father, Elmiro, writing a love letter. To allay his suspicions she tells him that the letter is for her suitor Rodrigo who is also the the Doge's son. Elmiro entrusts the letter to Iago, expecting him to consign it to Rodrigo. The letter also contains lock of hair and Desdemona quite rightly fears that these love tokens have fallen into the wrong hands. I will be underlining visually how these objects, as they pass from hand to hand, give rise to the se- ries of misunderstandings that unleash the tragedy. I will show how Otello's jealousy is exacer- bated by the visual contexts Iago masterminds to make Desdemo- na seem unfaithful." Hewitt's take on the opera is a traditional one. "Although the Otello libretto draws on early French and Ital- ian adaptations of Shakespeare that alter both the characters and storyline, the powerful themes at the centre of the drama remain exactly the same: mixed race re- lationships, love between indi- viduals of very different ages and social backgrounds, gender ine- quality, mobbing and femicide. I too want to be a daring…. and in the age of the trendily concep- tual the greatest act of artistic originality and artistic integrity I can commit is to try to tell the story exactly the way the authors would have wanted it. "Tradi- tional" has become a strangely pejorative term and perhaps it is high time to redeem it for the sake of both public and perform- ers, so this will be a traditional production." Not just in the staging, also at musical level this production will be one of its kind since Maestro Mencoboni was able to consult the original Rossini manuscript page by page. "The Maltese edition will be cleared of unjustified musical decisions. We hope that our vision will produce a fresh, col- ourful and easily understandable Otello," he said. A young and vibrant cast will bring this Otello to life, with Cliff Zammit Stevens as Otel- lo, Roberto Jachini Virgili as Iago, Valentina Mastrangelo as Desdemona, Nico Darmanin as Rodrigo, Francesca Sartorato as Emilia, Albert Buttigieg as Elmi- ro, Alan Sciberras as Lucio/Gon- dolier and Stanley Joe Portelli as Doge, together with KorMalta and the Malta Philharmonic Or- chestra. In short the audience is up for a night full of passion and drama, with virtuoso Rossinian singing in a stunning Venetian atmos- phere. Really an experience not to be missed! As in previous years, the thea- tre can count on the support of BOV for the Opera. More info and tickets are avail- able on teatrumanoel.com.mt Love and jealousy at Teatru Manoel this March Iago (Roberto Jachini Virgili) and Otello (Cliff Zammit Stevens) • Photo: Mark Zammit Cordina Emilia (Francesca Sartorato) and Desdemona (Valentina Mastrangelo) • Photo: Mark Zammit Cordina