Othello Review

Lyric, Hammersmith – until 11th February 2023

Reviewed by Antonia Hebbert

4****

This is a rough, tough, in-yer-face production of Othello, first devised by Frantic Assembly in 2008. Othello is a gang leader rather than a general, and the setting is the grotty Cypress pub (rather than Cyprus), complete with pool table, fruit machine and oppressive red wallpaper. The blokes wear trackies and trainers and hoodies; the women are sassy and knowing; and violence, sex and racism always seem near the surface. The cast are good at moving in the springy, restless way of people who used to fighting, and the play starts with a choreographed fight, the first of several eruptions of violence in this fast, loud production. And it all works –Shakespeare’s text becomes completely believable and alive.

The plot? Quite simple really – Iago has a grudge against Othello, and manipulates him into a state of mad jealousy against his lover/wife Desdemona. Othello kills Desdemona and himself, then Iago gets killed, and in the meantime Iago’s machinations have caused more death and injury – heigh ho, just another night in a deprived urban area. Michael Akinsulire is Othello, the fighter who is physically super-strong but also plausibly naive and gullible; Chanel Waddock plays Desdemona, with a fresh directness and spirit that work well for a character who can be a bit drippy and passive. Joe Layton is Iago and is superb – a deviously brilliant schemer who pulls all the strings.

Most of the action takes place on and around the pool table, or in a dark, misty outside created by the cast pushing aside the walls and furniture. At one point the walls lurch and fold to highlight the drunken confusion; at another we see Desdemona talking with her friend Emilia (Kirsty Stuart) in the grimy pub toilet.

With loud, pumping music, it all makes for a believably claustrophobic world in which passions rage and become destructive. The director is Scott Graham, the designer Laura Hopkins..