Anna Burnside reviews ‘an intense production of an emotionally charged play’.
Has there ever been a better time to tell the story of a bitter middle-aged man taking his personal disappointments out on his handsome, successful, younger boss? Who just happens to be black and newly married to the white daughter of a prominent politician?
In director and adaptor Gordon Barr’s hands, Othello feels like a documentary with period language. Putting the male characters in army fatigues, complete with the Union Jack on the shoulder, adds an extra layer. They are ostensibly fighting in the Mediterranean, but the culture war is the real battle.
Adam Donaldson plays Iago with mean-eyed Reform-voting energy, quickly spotting the opportunity to engineer Othello’s downfall and manipulating his wife into helping him.
Watching this from six feet away, in the sultry heat of the Kibble Palace, is tough. Manasa Tagica’s Othello arrives with huge force and energy then, over the 100-minute production, his charm, drive, military smarts and delight at his sparky wife dissolve in front of our eyes. It’s particularly difficult to see him believing his junior officer over the woman with whom he is so clearly besotted.
Tagica goes hard, but Isabelle Joss, as Iago’s wife Emilia, goes harder, unleashing feminist rage on her deeply unpleasant husband.
This is an intense production of an emotionally charged play. The current political impulse to blame outsiders and not believe women make it burningly relevant. Barr boils it all down to its most compelling elements, and the stunning ensemble delivers his message with the forensic accuracy of a drone attack.
His Othello is the perfect riposte to anyone who dares to argue that Shakespeare is irrelevant in the 21st century.
Othello performs in the Kibble Palace Glasshouse as part of this year’s Bard in the Botanics season until 11 July 2026. For further information, go to the production’s website.
Photo by Tommy Ga-Ken Wan.
RSS