Between January and February the Teatro Mercadante stages William Shakespeare's Othello, directed by Luca De Fusco, who also co-wrote the adaptation with Gianni Garrera. It is a co-production of three major Italian theatres: Teatro di Roma, Teatro Stabile di Torino and Teatro Biondo in Palermo.
De Fusco reads the tragedy as deliberately ambiguous: Othello appears to commit a terrible crime, but the staging gradually reveals Iago as the truly demonic figure, while Desdemona is the innocent victim. The setting is the most racist years of the last century, in an imaginary colonial South. The cast includes Federico Vanni, Luca Lazzareschi, Gianluca Merolli and Mersila Sokoli, with music by Ran Bagno and projections by Alessandro Papa; performed in Italian.
Our tip: the weekday matinées are ideal if you are in the city for just a few days.