Cultural Dessert

'Othello' by William Shakespeare

3 March 2023

On Saturday we were at the Curzon cinema at Milton Keynes Gallery to see the NTLive stream of Clint Dyer’s production of ‘Othello’ from the National Theatre in London. Using a bleak, monotone set dominated by broad stone steps on three sides, this production suggests a 1930s fascist state with almost everyone dressed in black shirts. Giles Terera’s Othello is the only person of colour and the constant refusal of other characters to accept his offered handshake is subtle but noticeable. Rather than simply seeing the play as a study in jealousy, Clint Dyer focuses on its racism and misogyny. Paul Hilton’s Iago, complete with an Enoch Powell thin moustache, is perhaps a little too obviously dastardly. Giles Terera gives an outstanding performance as Othello, and Rosy McEwen is great as Desdemona but I felt Tanya Franks as Iago’s wife Emilia was the revelation here. Clearly showing her as a woman physically and emotionally abused by her husband made sense of her willingness to assist Iago’s deceit of Othello. Having Iago address his interior monologues to a Greek chorus of actors sitting on the steps across the stage, rather than breaking the fourth wall to address the audience directly, was a clever way of implicating the wider society in his prejudices and his actions. It’s a fairly bleak production of a very grim play but excellently acted.

Labels: Drama, Film, Theatre

posted by Robin Simpson @ 12:48 pm