Shakespeare’s Othello is one of the great crimes passionnels. Othello loved not wisely but too well. Persuaded that his newly wed wife, Desdemona, whom he adores, is having an affair with Cassio, a young officer, his free and open nature gives way to a terrifying barbaric jealousy and murder.
David Harewood first played the Moorish general at the National Theatre in 1997 when he was 27 and too young. At six foot one he towers over 5-foot five Toby Jones, who plays Iago, Othello’s ensign. As far as I know this is the first time Jones has acted in a play by Shakespeare. He is totally in command of the verse, and every word is crystal clear.
Everybody on stage thinks Iago is honest and says so repeatedly. The actual phrase “honest Iago” is said over 50 times. The only people who know he is not honest is the audience. The more the phrase is repeated the more they laugh and the more they laugh, the more melodramatic the play becomes and the less tragic and moving it is.
Iago drives the action. He is even more jealous than Othello. His military career has stalled and what rankles is that Cassio, who has never been near a battlefield, has been promoted over him.
Desdemona is played far older than usual. Desdemona is in her early twenties. Caitlin Fitzgerald is in her forties. She has an elegant wardrobe and wears a different outfit in every scene. She looks far too mature and sophisticated for the role.
Tom Morris’s accessible but pedestrian production lacks excitement and grandeur. The actors regularly stand around in an artificial symmetrical way, which is very old-fashioned and boring. The staging and the performance are neither exotic nor erotic enough.
David Harewood is assured but too understated and full justice is not done to the thrilling verse when Othello is finally convinced Desdemona is unfaithful.
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