Memé Perlini is the producer and artistic director of “La Maschera” of Rome. His fourth spectacle, Otello (Othello) billed as “after Shakespeare,” was presented in May, 1975, at the World Theatre Festival in Nancy, France. The piece was originally created at the Venice Biennale where it was performed in a sixteenth century church for 2,300 spectators in November, 1974.

In Nancy, Otello was presented in a large gymnasium-like exhibition hall. The audience seating section was placed at one end of the rectangular space and consisted of tiered bleachers with a seating capacity of approximately 2,000 people. The spectators entered the building from behind the bleachers and immediately encountered hundreds of white paper plates spread neatly across the floor. Walking on the plates, around the bleachers, the spectators confronted the space. Creating a polka-dot pattern, the plates covered the entire floor area except that used for performing.