concept board
Desdemona: A Play About A Handkerchief
By Paula Vogel
By Paula Vogel
Directed by Avery Wigglesworth.
Knox College Studio Production: October 2012
The play revolves around a triangle of love, friendship and jealousy. Each woman has something that the other one wants. The play is meant to universalize the feminist story behind Shakespeare "Othello". Desdemona is eager to be a free woman but is chained down by her wealth, position and husband. She wants to be like the whore, Bianca, who can have whoever she wants be independent. But Bianca wants the supposedly happy marriage that Emilia sports and the security that Desdemona bemoans. Emilia just wants to be rid of her husband and to come into some wealth, like the stuff that she sees Desdemona throwing away. It is a play about temptation, transparency, trickery and tumultuous tittering.
I drew inspiration from costumes of the early 1600's in Venice ("Othello"'s original location), traditional Turkish dress (what used to be Cyprus) and recent feminists like Rosie the Riveter. The colors reflect the hopelessness and the passion that bounces around the women.
Knox College Studio Production: October 2012
The play revolves around a triangle of love, friendship and jealousy. Each woman has something that the other one wants. The play is meant to universalize the feminist story behind Shakespeare "Othello". Desdemona is eager to be a free woman but is chained down by her wealth, position and husband. She wants to be like the whore, Bianca, who can have whoever she wants be independent. But Bianca wants the supposedly happy marriage that Emilia sports and the security that Desdemona bemoans. Emilia just wants to be rid of her husband and to come into some wealth, like the stuff that she sees Desdemona throwing away. It is a play about temptation, transparency, trickery and tumultuous tittering.
I drew inspiration from costumes of the early 1600's in Venice ("Othello"'s original location), traditional Turkish dress (what used to be Cyprus) and recent feminists like Rosie the Riveter. The colors reflect the hopelessness and the passion that bounces around the women.
Photography by Craig Choma and Jessica Coullivier
Desdemona: the lady
Emilia: the servant
Bianca: the whore
