The soldiers in Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello are at war with foreign enemies, but often feel foreign to one another, as well as estranged from those not in the military. The characters are meant to adhere to codes belonging, loyalty, service, and leadership, yet find themselves constantly questioning the motives of those around them, and often feeling alone, uncertain, and unable to communicate – as if they were in enemy territory rather than among their own unit. How does the play reflect the experience of soldiers today, who go off to foreign lands to fight wars that the rest of us don’t understand and mostly choose to ignore, only to come “home” to a civilian world that now feels foreign?
Join us for a conversation with veterans, civilians, and scholars from both worlds to explore this divide and see how we might bridge it. Co-sponsored by Brown’s University’s “Dialogues on the Experience of War” group, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities
Speakers:
Christina Bevilacqua, Trinity Rep Conversationalist-in-Residence and Moderator
Touba Ghadessi, Associate Professor of Art History, Wheaton College
CDR Tyrus Lemerande of the Naval War College/Knighthorse Theatre