Look, boys and girls.  I know you’ve given up reading Shakespeare in its unvarnished King James glory.  I’ve seen clandestine copies of No Fear Shakespeare with its facing page of soulless translation next to “Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow.”  Most of you don’t even go that far but instead check out  Sparknotes or CliffsNotes or Shmoop.  Let’s face it, no matter how faux hip they try to make the summaries sound, they’re still tedious.

Well, I have something better. Here’s a sneak peak of my summary of Othello.  The cool thing is it’s a song.  You just click the arrow below and in under two minutes you get all you need to know about the play.

Check out this free preview:

Sung to the tune of “Volare” or you can click below and hear it sung in the author’s gorgeous coastal South Carolina baritone.

 

Othello, woe, woe

Lascivious Mo-or.

 

He strangled Desdemona

For sleeping with another fell-a.

 

That dark-hearted Dago[1]

Whose name was Iago

He poisoned the pliant Moor’s ear.

He told him his sweetie

Had been indiscrete

With someone he once held so dear.

 

Othello, woe woe

Lascivious, Mo-or.

 

The climax comes in Act III

Thanks to a mislaid hanky.

Susceptible to a deadly sin,

The green-eyed monster does the Moor in.

 

He stabs the circumcised dog thus,

Ending the entire ruckus.

 

A corpse-strewn bed, not okay,

So villainous Iago dragged away

 

To face some badass torture

For creating such a tragic rupture

 

Othello, woe, woe,

Lascivious Mo-or . . .

 

 

 

[1] To my Italian friends: sorry, but Iago has very few rhymes.