THEATER REVIEW

Lisa Wolpe is a standout bad guy in the all-female adaptation at The Theatre @ Boston Court, a co-production with the Los Angeles Women's Shakespeare Company.

By Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

Iago is notorious not just for making Othello run amok with jealousy. He's also a brazen scene stealer, offering an actor abundant opportunities to eclipse the play's tragically duped protagonist.

In the Theatre @ Boston Court's all-female take on "Othello," a co-production with the Los Angeles Women's Shakespeare Company, Iago actually deserves title-character status. Director Lisa Wolpe saves her most interesting interpretation for the diabolic ensign, a role she performs so naturally that you're hardly aware of any cross-dressing trickery.

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Forget Coleridge's diagnosis of "motiveless malignity" -- this Iago has good reason to be enraged. Once again he's been passed over for promotion in favor of a suave aristocrat. A working stiff with a five o'clock shadow, he's the type of guy who could easily be changing carburetors at a garage near you, covered in car grease and muttering salacious accusations against his wife and boss.

Wolpe's explanation of her character isn't as persuasive as her technical prowess, which sets her apart from the rest of the cast. The talented, if overtaxed, Fran Bennett plays Othello, but her performance, unlike Wolpe's, is a constant reminder of the external effort required to adopt a masculine facade. As a result, the Moor never becomes supplely human.

Iago aside, the gender-bending is hardly revelatory, and the acting often translates into broad impersonation -- the donning of caricatures and stereotypes.

As for the female characters, well, they aren't rendered with too much subtlety either. Nell Geisslinger's Desdemona is notable mostly for her pert self-possession -- she's obviously no goody two-shoes, though her flagrant randy streak sometimes contradicts her spotless reputation.

With a running time close to three hours, the production -- unfettered yet still draggy -- needs to dig deeper into the psychological poetry. The enduring fascination with "Othello" stems from the way an idealized love is destroyed by steadily kindled doubts. That story transcends time, place and even sex. But to reach the universal, you have to be, like Wolpe, comfortably situated in the bearded particular.

charles.mcnulty@latimes.com

'Othello'

Where: The Theatre @ Boston Court Theatre, 70 N. Mentor Ave., Pasadena

When: 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays

Ends: March 23

Price: $32

Contact: (626) 683-6883

Running time: 2 hours, 55 minutes