Arts & Entertainment
Dueling ‘Othellos’
Synetic brings its trademark moves to its production while Folgers goes traditional route
Owiso Odera and Ian Merrill Peakes in the Folger Theatre production. (Photo by Carol Pratt; courtesy of Folger Theatre)
‘Othello’
Through December
Folger Theatre
201 East Capitol Street, SE
$30-$65
202-544-7077
folger.edu‘Othello’
Closes Sunday
Synetic Theater
1800 South Bell Street, Crystal City
$25-$55
800-494-8497
synetictheater.org
Jealousy can be a dangerous emotion. In Shakespeare’s “Othello,” it’s downright lethal. Local audiences can see two vastly different takes on the dark drama at the Folger Theatre on Capitol Hill, and (if you act fast) Synetic Theater in Crystal City.
Director Robert Richmond’s Folger production sets the action during the Crusades and casts Othello as a Templar Knight, underlining the Moor’s unparalleled ascent to power. As Othello, Owiso Odera displays an innate princely confidence and occasional cockiness that works beautifully to further ignite the fury of his secretly sworn enemy Iago, played by a charmingly villainous Ian Merrill Peakes. From the start, the audience is made aware of the extent of Iago’s shocking duplicity and expects him, like most of Shakespeare’s bad guys, to meet his fate at the end of a blade by the end of the evening. Instead he’s sentenced to a smorgasbord of torture.
Despite some hammy moments, Richmond’s “Othello” is an exciting and visceral interpretation. When Odera’s darkly handsome Othello awakens a sleeping Desdemona (the luminous Janie Brookshire) to punish her for alleged sexual misdeeds with her friend Cassio (Thomas Keegan) by strangling her to death (it takes several tries before she eventually dies), it’s intense for sure. And the subsequent scenes in which Iago’s distraught wife Emilia (Karen Peakes) reveals Iago’s ongoing deception and quickly meets a horrific fate, followed by Othello’s devastating realization and a tragic ending of his own, are equally compelling.
This production reunites gay designers William Ivey Long and Tony Cisek who collaborated on last season’s Folger hit “Henry VIII.” Both take brilliant advantage of the tragedy’s disparate regions and climes. As the action moves from Venice via sea to Cyprus, Long’s costumes change from capes, fur-trimmed coats and chain mail to open shirts and sandals. Similarly, Cisek’s dazzling set morphs from a towering canopy bed elaborately crowned in carved wood to magistrate’s office to billowing ship sails to a fabulously appointed Bedouin tent (not entirely Cyprian, but beautiful still).
Synetic’s “Othello” is the second of three revivals featured in the terrific company’s “Speak No More: The Silent Shakespeare Festival.” As the title suggests, the 90-minute show is interpreted solely through movement. And while the uber-fit actors don’t utter a peep about a “green-eyed monster” or “beast with two backs,” all the elements of jealousy and lusty passion are fully conveyed through Paata Tsikurishvili smart staging and Irina Tsikurishvili’s insanely inventive and sexy choreography.
Instead of one of Iago, Synetic has opted to go with three. They’re united when the primary Iago played by a maniacally gleeful Philip Fletcher (who is gay) pulls his two alter egos (Synetic vets Alex Mills and Irina Tsikurishvili) through a Mylar mirror. At times the potent trio overpowers the production’s Othello (Roger Payano), but never for too long. The talented and well built Payano definitely holds his own among a strong cast. In fact, it was Payano who first inspired Synetic to mount “Othello” when it premiered last season.
In ways, the challenge with “Othello” is to buy into Iago’s all-consuming hate for the title character and to believe a man will turn on his beloved wife based on pretty flimsy evidence. Both productions do well convincing on these counts; still, as with so much of Shakespeare, audiences just have to go with it, remembering that jealousy can make people do ugly things.
Celebrity News
My evening with Madonna
Gay icon headlined the World Pride Music Festival in Amsterdam
Editor’s note: International News Editor Michael K. Lavers and Photo Editor Michael Key will be on assignment in the Netherlands through Aug. 10. They will be covering World Pride in Amsterdam.
AMSTERDAM — Madonna and 6,000 of her closest friends celebrated World Pride at Amsterdam’s AFAS Live concert hall early Sunday morning. I was fortunate enough to be one of them.
Madonna last Wednesday nearly broke the internet when she said on social media in Dutch that “I got somethin’ I wanna talk about,” referring to an opening line in “Danceteria,” one of the tracks on her “Confessions II” album that has received rave reviews since its July 2 release. The track has been on near constant replay on my playlist since I first heard it.
— Madonna (@Madonna) July 28, 2026
MISTR — a telehealth platform that offers free access to PrEP, Doxy PEP, STI testing, and long-term care that has organized Madonna’s Club Confessions shows in the U.S. and the U.K. — later confirmed the rampant speculation. I woke up on July 30 to an email in my inbox from MISTR and the World Pride Music Festival PR team that said I was on the press list.
Madonna was indeed going to headline the World Pride Music Festival that Jake Resnicow and Insomniac produced, and I was going to be there. OMFG!!!!
The gay icon had one more surprise in store.
The Dutch internet on Saturday once again broke over speculation that Kylie Minogue was going to appear alongside Madonna. I was getting ready to leave our hotel in Amsterdam on Saturday night when I saw a video of the two of them together.
“Madonna is now teasing Kylie Minogue on her social media … she may be one of her ‘special guests’ tonight,” I wrote in a text to Washington Blade Editor Kevin Naff at 8:46 p.m.
“Have fun! This is turning into the gayest concert ever,” he responded.
I arrived at AFAS Live shortly before 11 p.m. My press contact walked me and two other Dutch journalists into the venue’s cavernous main room known as the Black Box. We made small talk for a few minutes before I started to walk around and listen to Josh Harrison who was on the decks.
Madonna was scheduled to take the stage at 1:30 a.m., but she is known for being late — she is Madonna and she does what she wants. Hayla, a British singer, and Bebe Rexha are among those who performed ahead of Madonna. Thousands of sweaty men — including a group of Australians next to me who were eagerly awaiting Kylie’s anticipated appearance — packed the Black Box and were dancing, anticipating what was to come.
MISTR CEO Tristan Schukraft at one point came on stage and declared Madonna was indeed in the building. The moment for which we were all eagerly waiting finally came shortly before 2:30 a.m.
“Mother is here and this is gay heaven,” said Madonna when she took the stage.
Stuart Price, who produced her “Confessions on a Dance Floor” album in 2005, manned the decks during Madonna’s set.
She opened it with “I Feel So Free” from “Confessions II.” Madonna then sang “Bring Your Love” and “Danceteria” to which this reporter — and everyone else — sang along.
Madonna then teased a surprise before she began to perform “Love Sensation.” Kylie soon appeared on stage. It was nearly too much for my fellow partygoers from Australia. It was indeed the gayest concert ever!
Madonna and Kylie performed “Love Sensation” together. They then sang “Hung Up” and “Sorry” from “Confessions on a Dance Floor” to round out the set that ended shortly after 3 a.m.
Madonna and I share the same birthday — Aug. 16 — and I would like to think she and Kylie gave me an early birthday present. In all seriousness though, it was an amazing night for me and for everyone else who was fortunate enough to be there.
“On the dance floor I feel so free,” says Madonna in the opening of “I Feel So Free.”
For those few precious hours at AFAS Live I did not think about the Trump-Vance administration and the myriad ways it is destroying the U.S. I did not think about the National Guard troops deployed to D.C. I did not think about the pointless wars that continue to ravage Ukraine and other countries around the world. I simply lost myself on the dance floor and celebrated an icon who has always stood with my community.
Thank you, Madonna.
The Petal Release Party and Drag Show was held at Spark Social on Friday, July 31. Performers included Tiara-Missou, Labianna and Darcy de la Cuadra.
(Washington Blade photos by Landon Shackelford)
Celebrity News
Madonna headlines World Pride Music Festival in Amsterdam
Kylie Minogue made surprise appearance alongside gay icon
AMSTERDAM — Madonna on Sunday headlined the final night of the World Pride Music Festival in Amsterdam.
The gay icon took the stage shortly before 2:30 a.m. local time (8:30 p.m. ET on Saturday) during Club Confessions, a set that MISTR, a telehealth platform that offers free access to PrEP, Doxy PEP, STI testing, and long-term HIV care, organized.
“Mother is here and this is gay heaven,” said Madonna when she took the stage inside Amsterdam’s AFAS Live concert hall that can hold up to 6,000 people.
Stuart Price, who produced Madonna’s 2005 “Confessions on a Dance Floor” album and “Confessions II,” which debuted on July 2, DJed the set.
Kylie Minogue made a surprise appearance. She and Madonna performed a new remix of “Love Sensation” from “Confessions II.”
(Washington Blade video by Michael K. Lavers)
“Throughout my career, I’ve always supported efforts to fight HIV and AIDS, and that fight begins with education and access,” said Madonna in a MISTR press release. “With MISTR, (CEO) Tristan (Schukraft) is expanding access to HIV prevention and sexual healthcare for everyone. Through this work, he’s helping preserve and strengthen LGBTQ+ spaces while investing in the communities and culture that have long sustained us.”
Minogue in an Instagram post thanked Madonna, Price, Schukraft, and MISTR.
Madonna appeared at The Abbey in West Hollywood, Calif., in April. Madonna in June celebrated Pride month with a pop-up performance in New York’s Times Square.
Jake Resnicow and Insomniac produced the World Pride Music Festival that also featured Bebe Rexha and Paris Hilton, among others.
“Pride has always been about bringing our community together,” said Resnicow. “At a moment when too many people are being told to hide or make themselves smaller, gathering openly, joyfully, and without apology matters more than ever. I couldn’t be prouder of what this festival brought to life in Amsterdam — one dance floor, completely free.”
My evening with Madonna
PHOTOS: Petal Release Party
Madonna headlines World Pride Music Festival in Amsterdam
Reggie White relishing first season as artistic director of Woolly Mammoth
PHOTOS: Amsterdam Pride Canal Parade
PHOTOS: Lambda Legal in the Pines
Calendar: July 31-August 6
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Come showcase your singing, poetry talent
