Review: OTHELLO at Cameri Theater

I do not like to see Shakespeare plays. Sorry, but yes! I said it!

I know that in writing these lines, I am breaking up age-old sacred cows, set eons ago by European elites: that Shakespeare is the pinnacle of playwriting and must not be challenged.

Let's face it, though: Shakespeare plays have become a bother to the viewer.

It is not really an immortal story (These are pretty superficial issues, or fantasy, really). There are lots of "dead" moments in the play. It's not interesting, and much like the first iPhone wouldn't fit in 2018, Shakespeare just isn't relevant for 2018, either.

I have seen dozens of Shakespeare interpretations in my life, but two Shakespearean plays that will be engraved in my memory as the best I have seen so far are Hamlet, directed by Maor Zagori at the Habimah Theater, and Othello, directed by Irad Rubinstein at the Cameri Theater.

Why these two plays?

The reason is quite simple: these two directors understood that this medium is very much like the first iPhone in the reality of 2018: there are cameras better than it, there is a screen bigger than it, there are more beautiful screen resolutions than it. Just as the first iPhone revolutionized the field, subsequent iPhones have not remain stagnant, but have changed in ways that have continued to revolutionize it. Instead of leaving it as it is, they produce it in special colors, and add special applications that can run only on the newest operating system.

When I saw the play Othello at the Cameri Theater, I saw the genius of Irad Rubenstein in person. I saw the special thought that went into every detail; I saw the desire to find every living space in the play, to revive it and make it vibrate and touch the hearts of each of us.

The impressive play of Rami Baruch who plays Yago is remarkable, a thrill to watch - a play that shows us one of the greatest Israeli players in all his glory.

However, Amos Tamam, in the role of Othello does not hold the role in any way: he shouts, dramatic and unreliable most of the time. But everything else covers his acting.

Othello by Rubenstein makes all of us love Shakespeare, a little less angry than those who taught us that playwrights like Jacob Snoa are not appreciated playwrights, and understand why Shakespeare is an excellent platform for geniuses such as Rubenstein - the perfect platform, really, for directors who want to innovate, to sharpen their artistic senses.

Photo Credit: Radi Rubinstein
For tickets and further information, visit in the Cameri site

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