IAGO

IAGO_Legrand Andersen_Nicola DracoulisTold through physical theatre and fast poetic dialogue, Western Edge Youth Arts presents the premiere of IAGO – a contemporary reworking of one of Shakespeare’s greatest plays at The Coopers Malthouse for a strictly limited season: 7 – 9 May 2015.

Woven with issues including misogyny, male violence, raunch culture and pornography, IAGO is an in-­your-­face contemporary theatre reworking of Shakespeare’s Othello re-­imagined inside the confines of a rat-­infested boxing gym and spliced with young people’s stories reflecting the cultural diversity of Australian society.

The Edge Ensemble comprises six young emerging artists and in IAGO the characters represent their own diverse cultural backgrounds, including Piper Huynh (Vietnamese), Achai Deng (Sudanese), Legrand Andersen (Maori), Rex Pelman (Samoan), Natalie Lucic (Croatian) and Oti Wiloughby (Ghanaian).

Western Edge Youth Arts artistic director, Dave Kelman, explains that IAGO genuinely belongs to the Edge Ensemble: “Whilst still identifiably Shakespeare, it is the cast’s work and their interpretation of these complex themes,” says Kelman.

“The characters they have created are intersected into their own cultural backgrounds while being loosely driven by Shakespeare’s narrative as the audience is transposed into a contemporary Australian context.”

Through an intensive creative development and preview performances led by Tariro Mavondo and Dave Kelman, IAGO aims to explore the problematic world of contemporary sexual politics and misogyny incorporating a number of different cultural perspectives.

IAGO
Tower Theatre – The Coopers Malthouse, 113 Sturt Street, Southbank
Season: 7 – 9 May 2015
Bookings: (03) 9685 5111 or online at: www.malthousetheatre.com.au

For more information, visit: www.westernedge.org.au for details.

Image: Legrand Andersen as IAGO – photo by Nicola Dracoulis