OTHELLO

By William Shakespeare
Directed by Haysam Kadri

Download House Program

GRADE RECOMMENDATION

Grade 9+

CONTENT ADVISORY

Please see the show page for a detailed advisory.

SYNOPSIS

Othello, a respected general in Venice, secretly marries the noblewoman Desdemona, defying societal expectations and drawing scrutiny. Soon after, he is deployed to Cyprus, accompanied by his loyal lieutenant Cassio and the seemingly devoted Iago. Beneath his façade of service, however, Iago conceals deep resentment and begins plotting revenge to destroy Othello's happiness and professional standing. By planting false evidence and preying on Othello's insecurities, Iago convinces him that Desdemona is unfaithful with Cassio. As jealousy corrodes Othello's trust, alliances fracture and tensions escalate, plunging everyone into emotional turmoil. With deception tightening its grip and reason slipping away, the stage is set for a devastating reckoning that neither love nor honour will survive.

CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS

• Global Competencies or Transferable Skills: Critical Thinking and Problem Solving; Innovation, Creativity and Entrepreneurship; Self-Directed Learning; Collaboration; Communication; Global Citizenship and Sustainability; Digital Literacy
  
  

Grades 9-12

• The Arts
• Canadian and World Studies
• English
• Health and Physical Education
• Social Sciences and Humanities
• Technological Education
  
  

Post-Secondary

• Suitable for courses in disciplines such as Arts, Cultural Studies, Creative Writing, Dramatic Arts and Theatre, English, Fine Arts, Gender Studies, History, Human Rights, Race Relations, Social Development Studies, Teacher Education

THEMES

• Ambition
• Appearance and Reality
• Confidence and Insecurity
• Deceit and Manipulation
• Hate
• Honour and Reputation
• Jealousy
• Love
• Masculinity and Misogyny
• Power and Control
• Prejudice and Discrimination
• Race and Racism
• Violence

DISCUSSION AND REFLECTION QUESTIONS

PRE-SHOW QUESTIONS

• Based on what you know about Shakespearean tragedy, what do you expect to see in Othello, and why?
• Shakespeare's plays are often said to "hold a mirror up to nature," showing us a reflection of humanity. Haysam Kadri, the director of this production, suggests that Othello not only holds up a mirror, but a magnifying glass. What do you think he means by this?
• Othello is often called a "tragic hero." What do you think makes a hero "tragic"? Explain your thinking.
• Othello was written more than 400 years ago and it explores issues of racism, misogyny and discrimination still pervasive in our world today. Do you think this play has anything to offer in terms of how to combat these intersecting oppressive systems in our current context? Why or why not?
• Professor Ayanna Thompson works as a Shakespeare and performance race scholar, delving deeply into the history, current performance and teaching of Othello. She is interested in how race makes meaning onstage and how we talk about it. As noted in her research and others', in Shakespeare's time, Othello would have been performed by white actors using a kind of Elizabethan blackface. How does this history impact our current engagement with the play?
• In a play, what does it feel like when a character speaks directly to you as the audience? What impact might this have on how you feel about this particular character and the story as a whole? Explain your thinking using examples.
• Othello is a solider and the play is told with the backdrop of war. In this context, where the military is highly valued, what else might be valued alongside it?
• One inspiration for the design of this production is fire. What images or feelings come to mind when you think about fire or things that are burning or burnt?
• Predict how the theme of appearance versus reality might be explored in the play. Why do you think this theme is significant in human relationships?
• What makes a healthy relationship or marriage?
• Think about how a person's reputation is formed. How can it be earned, damaged or lost? Once a reputation is damaged, can it ever be fully restored? Support your ideas with examples from literature, history or real-world experiences.
• Do words have power? Do the stories or words we hear about ourselves or each other affect reality? Explain your thinking using examples.
• What imbues an object with power? Why do gifts hold emotional significance?
• How do you imagine this production will share with the audience the internal thoughts, experiences and psyches of the characters? How might elements such as lighting, sound and music play a role in doing so?
  
  

POST-SHOW QUESTIONS

• What were you left thinking and feeling at the end of the play? Did the ending surprise you? Why or why not? Explain your thinking.
• Known as the "Othello whisperer," Professor Ayanna Thompson is often called upon to work with artists playing Othello who are experiencing distress and challenges in this work. As she has shared, this can be for many reasons including the following:
• • Iago has a larger part and, thus, spends more time with the director and the audience.
  • The play is almost always performed for a predominantly white audience who Iago gets on his side.
  • Shakespeare is lauded as the pinnacle of theatre which can cause distress when our experience does not align with this view of his work.
• Knowing this, what conditions would you suggest be put in place before a theatre company programs this production?
• How might personal feelings or actions stem from broader social attitudes? For example, how did attitudes about racial or gender hierarchies impact Iago's actions toward Othello? How did they impact Othello's treatment of Desdemona? Explain your thinking using examples from the play or other dramatic and literary works or media texts.
• Consider the women in the play: Desdemona, Emilia and Bianca. Would their stories have been different if this story were set today? Why or why not?
• Did any character surprise you with their actions? If so, how?
• Which character did you sympathize with most, and why?
• What did it feel like to have Iago speak directly to you as the audience? How did your feelings toward him change over the course of the play and how did this make you feel?
• What did Iago exploit in other characters to further his own plans, and what does this show about his insight into humanity?
• In the 2026 Stratford Festival production, consider the casting choices in terms of race, gender and age. Why do you think the director made the decisions that he did? What impact did this have on you as an audience member?
• Describe the ways in which language was used to gain power in the play. Use specific examples to support your thinking. What might this tell us about the power of language today?
• In what ways did Othello's language evolve from the beginning to the end of the play, and how do these changes reflect his emotional state and trust in others?
• What lessons from Othello could still apply to modern relationships, friendships or communities?
  
  

MINDS ON

Objective: Students will analyze selected excerpts of the play for power shifts and emotional changes in order to learn how to make directorial choices using movement, staging and text evidence.

Materials:

• William Shakespeare's Othello
• Student Directing Graphic Organizer
• Writing materials
• Laptops/tablets
  
  

Directions:

1. Facilitate a discussion about the role of the director. What has their experience been in the past working as directors or alongside them as cast or creative team members? What directorial approaches have resonated most with them? Invite students to consider what kinds of questions directors might use while they are working on a scene.
2. Divide students into small groups and let them know that they will co-direct a scene together.
3. Assign each group one of the following excerpts from Othello:   
   • Act 1, scene 1 (lines 74-160) – Iago, Roderigo, Brabantio
   • Act 3, scene 3 (lines 100-133) – Othello, Iago
   • Act 3, scene 3 (lines 490-510) – Othello, Iago
   • Act 3, scene 4 (lines 35-87) – Desdemona, Othello, Emilia
   You may already have access to physical copies of the text. One suggested resource is to view or download it through the Folger Shakespeare Library where you can easily search by act, scene and line.
4. Invite students to read the scene aloud together using a lexicon and/or dictionary to look up any unfamiliar words.
5. Using the graphic organizer, ask students to read the scene again, this time focusing on the following:
   • identify the central conflict,
   • track where power shifts,
   • choose where interruption or silence occurs,
   • decide how distance and movement change
   • and justify at least one staging decision inspired by a specific line from the text.
6. Then, ask students to stage and rehearse their scene using inspiration from the planning they worked through on their graphic organizer.
7. After time for rehearsal, invite each group to perform their scene for their classmates.
   
   

DEBRIEFING QUESTIONS:

• Where did you see the power shift most clearly?
• Did movement change the meaning of the dialogue? If so, how?
• What role did silence play?
• Did proximity affect the emotional intensity? If so, how?
• How did your directorial choices shape your understanding of the characters' choices?
• Did staging make any lines clearer than reading alone? If so, why do you think this might be?
  
  

POSSIBLE EXTENSIONS:

Silent Version:

1. Invite students to stage their scene without speaking any of the lines.
2. Ask them to use only movement, gesture, breath and proximity.
3. Then, ask students to add the text back in.
4. Invite them to consider what they discovered about physical storytelling. Which moments were strongest without words?

Journal Reflection:

1. Invite students to reflect on their experience as directors.
2. Ask them to respond to the following questions: What was most challenging? What was most rewarding? Which questions were most helpful to work with as a director? If you could meet a professional director, what questions would you have for them?
3. Share your questions for professional directors with the Stratford Festival!
   
   

As part of a new partnership with St. Mary's University, we're pleased to share some learning exercises developed by teacher candidates in the Bachelor of Education program:

• Othello Creative Process Drama Project: Shakespeare in Performance
• Othello: Flip the Script or Stay the Course

CONNECTION TO THE ARCHIVES

André Sills, who is playing the title role in this season's production of Othello, has played numerous leading roles across his 11 seasons with the Festival, including Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream (2021) and the title role in Coriolanus (2018), as seen here. He also works as a director, whose credits include Get That Hope (2024). What skills are important to both actors and directors? What might an actor with directing experience like André Sills bring to his performance?

André Sills as Coriolanus in Coriolanus (Stratford Festival, 2018). By William Shakespeare. Created in collaboration with Ex Machina. Directed by Robert Lepage. Designed by Steve Blanchet. Costume design by Mara Gottler. Lighting design by Laurent Routhier. Sound design by Antoine Bédard. Photography by David Hou.
Stratford Festival Archives, GPO.2018.003.0747B

The Stratford Festival Archives maintains, conserves and protects records about the Festival and makes those materials available to people around the world. Their collection contains material ranging from 1952 right up to the present and includes administrative documents, production records, photographs, design artwork, scores, audio-visual recordings, promotional materials, costumes, props, set decorations and much more. These materials are collected and preserved with the aim of documenting the history of the Festival, preserving the page-to-stage process, and capturing the creative processes involved in numerous other activities that contribute to the Festival each season.

RESOURCES

Study Guide PDF

Stratford Public Library's 2026 Season Reading Lists

STUDY GUIDES

View all 2026 Shorts and Study Guides for selected 2026 plays, along with those from previous seasons, free of charge.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Directing

Director Rehearsal Questions | CODE Resources

Ten Questions to Ask During Rehearsal | Theatrefolk

Theater Directing Resources | PBS Learning Media

Shakespeare and Othello

Ayanna Thompson

Karim-Cooper, Farah. The Great White Bard: How to Love Shakespeare While Talking About Race. 2023.

Othello Fast Facts | Bell Shakespeare

Othello | Folger Shakespeare Library

Othello Education Resource | National Theatre

Othello | Royal Shakespeare Company

The Othello whisperer | Robin Tricoles I Arizona State University

Shakespeare | Cañada College Library

Shakespeare's Life and Times | Royal Shakespeare Company

Thompson, Ayanna. Blackface (Object Lessons). 2021.

Thompson, Ayanna. (Ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare and Race. 2021.

Thompson, Ayanna and Laura Turchi. Teaching Shakespeare with Purpose: A Student-Centered Approach. 2016.

Mental Health, Suicide Prevention and Family and Intimate Partner Violence

9-8-8: Suicide Crisis Helpline | Government of Canada

Canada Suicide Prevention Helpline 1-833-456-4566

Family and Intimate Partner Violence | Canadian Association of Social Workers
If you or someone you know is in immediate danger, call 911 or your local emergency services (police, fire, ambulance).

Hope for Wellness Helpline 1-855-242-3310 (available 24/7 to Indigenous people across Canada)

Kids Help Phone 1-800-668-6868 | Text 686868

LGBT Youthline

Provincial Mental Health Supports | CMHA

U.S. Suicide Prevention Lifeline 1-800-273-8255

BOOKING INFORMATION: TICKETS, WORKSHOPS AND CHATS

STUDENT MATINEES

You may book any available date, but selected student matinee performances for this show are at 2 p.m. on the following dates:

2 p.m.

• Friday, May 22
• Monday, May 25
• Wednesday, June 3
• Wednesday, September 9
• Thursday, September 17
• Wednesday, September 23
• Thursday, September 24

WORKSHOPS AND CHATS

Visit our website or contact us at educate@stratfordfestival.ca to book:

• InterACTive Preshows
• Collaborative Learning Workshops
• Customized Workshops
• Post-Show Chats
• Behind-the-Scenes Tours

2026 SEASON SPONSOR

The 2026 Season is generously supported by Ophelia Lazaridis

PROUD SEASON PARTNERS

Support for the 2026 season of the Tom Patterson Theatre is generously provided by

Production Underwriter: The Westaway Charitable Foundation

TOOLS FOR TEACHERS

Tools for Teachers includes InterACTive Preshows, Study Guides and Stratford Shorts sponsored by