The Chicago sensation that is the Q Brothers are bringing their ‘remixed’ interpretation of Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello to the Sydney Festival for the 2014 edition! It’s innovative and provides a kickass new way of viewing one of the most famous tragedies – we get the lowdown from the JQ and GQ ahead of the festival.
Did Chicago’s musical history have a significant influence on the choice of music in the play?
JQ: Chicago’s musical history didn’t really have a direct influence outside of the fact that I’m a Chicago musician who’s been making hip hop here for almost 20 years. I’ve also lived in NYC and LA and enjoy all types of music. The beautiful thing about hip hop is that it is thievery, by nature. Sampling and being influenced by many genres of music makes it impossible for hip hop to die. It is the most beautiful musical parasite that has ever existed.
How physically exhausting is it jumping round and rapping Shakespeare? Either way, how do you maintain that energy?
GQ: It’s actually pretty exhausting, but it’s what keeps us in really good shape. We joke about the fact that we really write these pieces so that we’ll live longer and drink less. So far it hasn’t much lessened the drinking… it becomes pretty easy to maintain the required energy, because it’s like putting on a concert every time, and that is totally exciting and exhilarating.
Are you channelling a particular hip hop artist when you’re performing on stage?
JQ: Because we’ve rewritten the play to be about a touring rap crew instead of a band of soldiers, we’ve used certain hip hop archetypes to enhance the natural dynamics of the crew. Othello is the self made hip hop mogul. I would liken him to Jay Z or 50 Cent. Iago is more like Eminem. He is lyrically intense and has his roots in underground rap. Othello passes on putting out Iago next and decides for the commercial appeal of Cassio, who is largely based on Will Smith.
Has audience reception varied greatly from country to country? How do you think Australian’s will receive your unique concept?
GQ: Every country has a different sense of humour, that is true—but our sense of humour has a wide span and we strive to keep our form of entertainment as universal and unique as possible. Different audiences react at different times, but then there are times that every audience reacts and in a similar way. So far, South Korea got the most out of our jokes! Our last show to tour Australia (“Funk It Up About Nothin'”) was received extremely well, and we feel this show is better and far more impressive in ways. Plus Australians are generally pretty crazy and so are we, so we feel it’s a perfect fit!
What has been the biggest challenge about putting on Othello: The Remix?
JQ: Our form is technically challenging to pull off from a performance standpoint. But as a writer, the most interesting challenge is to update the female perspective and characters so they don’t seem weak, as they were often originally written, in a modern world. We want to make those characters stronger, in order to match the strength and wit if the modern woman.
Q Brothers have done several takes on Shakespeare’s work over the years, where did the idea to use the Bard come from?
GQ: My senior year at Tisch School of the Arts at NYU, I was in the Experimental Theatre Wing. I wanted to create a piece merging hip hop and theatre, so I asked some friends who were also actors/rappers to create with me. We decided to adapt a text instead of writing totally from scratch. Shakespeare was free and public domain… turns out his shit is pretty dope!
Are there plans to do another Shakespeare adaptation in the future, or are you looking at other directions?
JQ: We plan to do the complete works. And we are also working in other directions. We just finished Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, recently did a short piece adapting Goethe, and are currently working with Twain and several other writers.
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Othello: The Remix is at the York Theatre at the Seymour Centre from January 23-26. Tickets and more information available from www.sydneyfestival.org.
