It helps to get immersed that way, and he likes that each version has different scholar notes, with possibly slightly varied text. He ha...
It helps to get immersed that way, and he likes that each version has different scholar notes, with possibly slightly varied text. He has even more copies of “Othello” – 16 or 17, he thinks.
Arbus, applauding the wisdom of retaining multiple editions, cited a version of “Othello” whose editor had reassigned one of Desdemona’s lines to Emilia, and in the process deleted a key to Desdemona’s character.
“You see?” Thompson marveled. ” It’s fascinating. From a line.”
Later, over the phone, Arbus would say that part of what makes Thompson so compelling on stage is that “his nerves are closer to his skin than a lot of people’s, in that he’s very sensitive to the language, very sensitive to other actors”.
“It’s those great stories that I think satisfy his soul in a way that maybe nothing else does,” she said.
But that afternoon in the rehearsal room, Thompson was talking confidence — about how he’d probably say yes to doing another Shakespeare play with Arbus before she even told him which one she had in mind.
“I mean, she can say, ‘OK, this is going to be a comedy,'” he said. “And I hate comedies. I would do it again.
Rising very slightly to his bait, Arbus didn’t mention a title, just a potential role, as far removed from Shylock and “The Merchant of Venice” as Shakespeare might be – the weaver-turned-donkey in “A Dream of a Lady”. summer night”. ”
“Down, down, down,” she said.
“I would say OK,” Thompson said. “I’ll do it with Arin.”
COMMENTS