US Edition 
Hip-Hop Othello, The Globe Theatre, London, review
Performers from Chicago turn Shakespeare's Othello into rap in a special Hip-Hop production at the Globe Theatre.
Four actors-cum-rappers from Chicago called the Q Brothers, a DJ playing songs from a balcony overlooking the stage and a crowd with their hands in the air dancing along five minutes into the show: just another Sunday afternoon watching a Shakespeare play.
This was Othello - only told in Hip Hop - part of the 'Globe to Globe' season held at Shakespeare's Globe on London's Southbank; all of Shakespeare's plays are being told in a different language from around the world.
In this reworking the language is Hip-Hop: Othello is a famous rapper embarking on a global tour accompanied by Iago and Casio - vying for an album release of their own - and Desdemona a famous singer.
If this sounds like a lot for four people to get through on their own (there are only four actors who remain on stage during the whole play switching between different roles) - it is. Not that this matters, 'Q Company' from Chicago perform the tale expertly with the performance of Iago in particular, played as a frustrated and envious muscian, outstanding.
While there was certain fun to be had in Othello's modern setting and the quick character changes of the cast, the performance did not shirk the darker elements of the play. Desdemona's demise was shocking, her non-presence in the play (only her pre-recorded singing voice is heard) a clever way of highlighting that her transformation occurs only in Othello's head, rather than in reality.
The show fizzed along with so much verve that the story with its familiar themes of jealousy, friendship and betrayal was utterly engrossing - even for those members for the Globe audience that one suspects were not witnessing their first performance of Othello.
The actors make clear in a rap at the begining of the play that they are part of a tradition of reworking familiar stories that Shakespeare himself borrowed from the Greeks. If the writers felt they needed to justify touching one of Shakespeare's finest plays, they needn't have bothered: the show is a triumph from begining to end.
Globe to Globe is part of the World Shakespeare Festival for the London 2012 Festival and continues until June 9. See Globe Theatre website for details.