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Othello – review Othello – review
(5 months later)
To call this production eagerly awaited would be an understatement. Ever since Adrian Lester gave us a taste of the Moor, when playing the 19th-century American actor Ira Aldridge in Red Velvet, we have longed to see his Othello.To call this production eagerly awaited would be an understatement. Ever since Adrian Lester gave us a taste of the Moor, when playing the 19th-century American actor Ira Aldridge in Red Velvet, we have longed to see his Othello.
With Nicholas Hytner directing, we also expect a production that will be witty, well-spoken and illuminating. But, for all the evening's brilliance, it confirms something I have long suspected: that the more naturalistic the production, the more Iago becomes the play's focal figure.With Nicholas Hytner directing, we also expect a production that will be witty, well-spoken and illuminating. But, for all the evening's brilliance, it confirms something I have long suspected: that the more naturalistic the production, the more Iago becomes the play's focal figure.
Hytner and designer Vicki Mortimer have gone all out for contemporary realism. The Venetian senate meets in emergency session in an underground war room; and, once the action shifts to Cyprus, we are in a modern military encampment, all wire fences, concrete bunkers and towering lights resembling erect cobras. In one particularly ingenious touch, Iago and Othello adjourn to a washroom, allowing the Moor to eavesdrop on his ensign's discussion with Cassio from a loo cubicle.Hytner and designer Vicki Mortimer have gone all out for contemporary realism. The Venetian senate meets in emergency session in an underground war room; and, once the action shifts to Cyprus, we are in a modern military encampment, all wire fences, concrete bunkers and towering lights resembling erect cobras. In one particularly ingenious touch, Iago and Othello adjourn to a washroom, allowing the Moor to eavesdrop on his ensign's discussion with Cassio from a loo cubicle.
Even the living quarters are austere, so Desdemona meets her death in a bedroom where the suitcases are piled on the wardrobe.Even the living quarters are austere, so Desdemona meets her death in a bedroom where the suitcases are piled on the wardrobe.
The benefits of such precision are numerous: it gives every scene a local habitation; it ensures a rigorous attention to language; it also makes sense of things that often seem obscure. I've often wondered why Othello, even before the catastrophe strikes, is effectively demoted, by being replaced as Cypriot governor: in Hytner's production it is clearly because he has offended military protocol by insisting on taking his wife on a wartime expedition.The benefits of such precision are numerous: it gives every scene a local habitation; it ensures a rigorous attention to language; it also makes sense of things that often seem obscure. I've often wondered why Othello, even before the catastrophe strikes, is effectively demoted, by being replaced as Cypriot governor: in Hytner's production it is clearly because he has offended military protocol by insisting on taking his wife on a wartime expedition.
But the crucial consequence of the production's modernity is that it puts Iago at the heart of the play.But the crucial consequence of the production's modernity is that it puts Iago at the heart of the play.
It has happened before, with Ian McKellen and Antony Sher: once you place Iago in a sharply defined military context you make him the play's pivot. And Rory Kinnear here gives a stunning study of a sociopath whose destructive tendencies have hitherto been held in check only by soldierly discipline.It has happened before, with Ian McKellen and Antony Sher: once you place Iago in a sharply defined military context you make him the play's pivot. And Rory Kinnear here gives a stunning study of a sociopath whose destructive tendencies have hitherto been held in check only by soldierly discipline.
It's a performance full of revealing moments: the sudden false smile Kinnear flashes at a colleague to check his inner rage, and the spontaneous flush of anger when Cassio patronisingly says to Desdemona: "You may relish him more in the soldier than in the scholar". But Kinnear gives us more than the outwardly blunt, inwardly resentful NCO: this Iago burns with a contempt for the human race and for the beauty in other men's lives, which he knows he can never possess.It's a performance full of revealing moments: the sudden false smile Kinnear flashes at a colleague to check his inner rage, and the spontaneous flush of anger when Cassio patronisingly says to Desdemona: "You may relish him more in the soldier than in the scholar". But Kinnear gives us more than the outwardly blunt, inwardly resentful NCO: this Iago burns with a contempt for the human race and for the beauty in other men's lives, which he knows he can never possess.
Alongside him, Lester has all the qualities you look for in Othello: charisma, presence, a voice. He is superb in the senate scene, where his fractional pause as he recalls "being taken by the insolent foe and sold to slavery" evokes bitter ancestral memories, and he is unforgettably uxorious on his reunion with Desdemona in Cyprus.Alongside him, Lester has all the qualities you look for in Othello: charisma, presence, a voice. He is superb in the senate scene, where his fractional pause as he recalls "being taken by the insolent foe and sold to slavery" evokes bitter ancestral memories, and he is unforgettably uxorious on his reunion with Desdemona in Cyprus.
Lester also moves one with his conflicted emotion at the climax: one moment sniffing the bedclothes, the next achingly drawn to the woman he is about to kill. But although Lester has all the trappings of a great Othello, the production militates against him in the central scenes. To put it bluntly, once you're into a world of laptops and strip lighting, it's hard to believe Othello would be deluded by the absence of a spotted handkerchief.Lester also moves one with his conflicted emotion at the climax: one moment sniffing the bedclothes, the next achingly drawn to the woman he is about to kill. But although Lester has all the trappings of a great Othello, the production militates against him in the central scenes. To put it bluntly, once you're into a world of laptops and strip lighting, it's hard to believe Othello would be deluded by the absence of a spotted handkerchief.
When, as Ira Aldridge's Othello, Lester said of the missing hanky: "There's magic in the web of it," we were ushered into a realm of wonderment; here, the same line is delivered as if it referred to divorce-court evidence.When, as Ira Aldridge's Othello, Lester said of the missing hanky: "There's magic in the web of it," we were ushered into a realm of wonderment; here, the same line is delivered as if it referred to divorce-court evidence.
It is a high-class production. I've seen more spirited Desdemonas than Olivia Vinall's but Lyndsey Marshal intriguingly plays Emilia as a fully fledged combatant, and there is outstanding support from William Chubb as an embittered Brabantio and Nick Sampson as a Lodovico appalled by Othello's moral decline.It is a high-class production. I've seen more spirited Desdemonas than Olivia Vinall's but Lyndsey Marshal intriguingly plays Emilia as a fully fledged combatant, and there is outstanding support from William Chubb as an embittered Brabantio and Nick Sampson as a Lodovico appalled by Othello's moral decline.
Everything about the production is clear, clever and comprehensible. But, partly because it denies Othello something of his musical grandeur and makes Iago's diseased mind the main event, I'd say it scores a successful victory on points without delivering the final, knockout blow.Everything about the production is clear, clever and comprehensible. But, partly because it denies Othello something of his musical grandeur and makes Iago's diseased mind the main event, I'd say it scores a successful victory on points without delivering the final, knockout blow.
Until late September. Box Office: 020 7452 3000Until late September. Box Office: 020 7452 3000
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