Roderigo and Iago have a sort of strange relationship
whereby Roderigo pays Iago for his time and
nous in order to get closer to Desdemona.
He might have even provided Roderigo with
little trinkets from the house.
Let's really play the conferring the status
on him.
Roderigo:
Tush! never tell me; I take it much unkindly
That thou, Iago, who hast had my purse
As if the strings were thine, shouldst know
of this.
Iago:
'Sblood, but you will not hear me:
If ever I did dream of such a matter, Abhor
me.
Roderigo:
Thou told'st me thou didst hold him in thy
hate.
Iago:
Despise me, if I do not. Three great ones
of the city,
In personal suit to make me his lieutenant,
Off-capp'd to him: and, by the faith of man,
I know my price, I am worth no worse a place:
But he; as loving his own pride and purposes,
Evades them, with a bombast circumstance
Horribly stuff'd with epithets of war;
And, in conclusion,
Nonsuits my mediators…
I follow him to serve my turn upon him:
We cannot all be masters, nor all masters
Cannot be truly follow'd…
For, sir,
It is as sure as you are Roderigo,
Were I this Moor, I would not be Iago:
Now, what if you go the other way around with
this scene. Use your masculinity; use your
marshal status.
Roderigo:
Tush! never tell me; I take it much unkindly
That thou, Iago, who hast had my purse
As if the strings were thine, shouldst know
of this.
Iago:
'Sblood, but you will not hear me:
If ever I did dream of such a matter, Abhor
me.
Roderigo:
Thou told'st me thou didst hold him in thy
hate.
Iago:
Despise me, if I do not. Three great ones
of the city,
In personal suit to make me his lieutenant,
Off-capp'd to him: and, by the faith of man,
I know my price, I am worth no worse a place:
But he; as loving his own pride and purposes,
Evades them, with a bombast circumstance
And, in conclusion,
Nonsuits my mediators…
I follow him to serve my turn upon him:
We cannot all be masters, nor all masters
Cannot be truly follow'd…
For, sir,
It is as sure as you are Roderigo,
Were I this Moor, I would not be Iago:
And then, let's see what happens, when we
get to the final moment when he has the racial
epithet.
Roderigo
What a full fortune does the thicklips owe
If he can carry't thus!
-Laughter, becoming more sinister-
Roderigo
What a
full fortune does the thicklips owe
If he can carry't thus!
And suddenly, he starts carrying this racist
invective into his ear, and I think particularly
if he has just made you very nervous about
using that sort of language.
Roderigo
What a full fortune does the thicklips owe
If he can carry't thus!
Please stop!
-Laughter, becoming more sinister-
Roderigo:
Ow! No - I'm sorry!
-Painful sounds-
Roderigo:
Stop! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!
Iago:
Call up her father,
Roderigo:
Why?!
Iago: Rouse him: make after him, poison his
delight,
Proclaim him in the streets; incense her kinsmen.
Roderigo: Ok, ok!
Iago:
'Zounds, sir, you're robb'd; for shame, put
on
your gown;
Your heart is burst, you have lost half your
soul;
Even now, now, very now, an old black ram
Is topping your white ewe.
- Roderigo protests - No! No!
Iago:Arise!
Yeah, it's a real impetus to do something
that you don't want to do, and it's really
dangerous; and I don't think that Roderigo
really has the 'balls' potentially to be doing
this kind of thing, actually, unless he's
in a really volatile state. So, what we're
doing in the show I guess, is that he's just
so amped up and upset, but this is also a
really obvious physical threat; and I quite
like the idea of being used as a puppet because
he is, throughout the show! He's used as a
puppet the whole time, whilst considering
himself potentially to have some autonomy.
This version - it's less conspiratorial - it
feels like Iago is the 'bully', and it then
puts a very different spin on their entire
relationship.
Let's just do a version of it where we play
the love that Roderigo has, the dependence
that he has.
Roderigo:
Sir, I will answer any thing. But, I beseech
you,
If't be your pleasure and most wise consent,
As partly I find it is, that your fair daughter,
At this odd-even and dull watch o' the night,
Transported, with no worse nor better guard
But with a knave of common hire, a gondolier,
To the gross clasps of a lascivious Moor--
Iago: Boom!
Roderigo: If this be known to you and your
allowance,
We then have done you bold and saucy wrongs;
But if you know not this, my manners tell
me
We have your wrong rebuke.
Iago: Boom! Boom!
There's probably a ground between these two
isn't there? It feels like you do need a certain
amount of jeopardy at the beginning. Iago
does need to feel like he could create chaos
here; he could reveal things, etc. and you
need to, sort of, work hard to, sort of, recover
him...so it feels like there's a balance between
the two.
