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| Edinburgh : A&E : Theatre: Reviews |
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Theatre listings > First known to be performed on 1 November 1604 at the court of James VI and I. Playwright - William Shakespeare. Director - Mark Thomson. Designer - Francis O'Connor. Lighting Designer - Davy Cunningham. Assistant Director. - Jemima Levick. Movement Director - Malcolm Shields. Company - Royal Lyceum Theatre Company . Cast - here. Venue -Royal Lyceum Theatre Companywww.lyceum.org.uk Grindlay St, Edinburgh 0131 248 4848. Dates - 22 Oct - 20 Nov at 7.45pm. No Perfomances Sun or Mon. Matinees at 2:30pm on Run Time - 3 hours 15 mins with an interval. Reviewer - Thelma Good. Siding with Iago. Honesty is a word used much in Othello, most often mentioned by Iago. Under Mark Thomson's direction our reactions interestingly reveal how far from decency and honesty we may be. In a flexible tall pillared set with etiolated louvered doors, flowing muslin curtains and views of day and night skies we start in Venice. There a father finds out his daughter, Desdemona has married the Moor. He is the military leader Othello, a man set apart not only by his role but also by how those around him view his race. There are tensions in the air - jealousies are already strong, Roderigo of the newly wed Othello, Iago of Othello's newly appointed lieutenant Cassio. Iago increases them as the action moves to Cyprus where Othello is to be in charge. From the beginning Liam Brennan's Iago invokes our interest, liking even, as he confides in us, a man bitter at being passed over by the remoter Othello. Charmer Iago's a nasty piece of work, and as he tightens the strands of his deceitful web, the audience laughs as he traps each victim and gives us an I've-got-another look. Experienced indigenous Black actors have yet to arise in Scotland so the only non-Scot in the cast is Wil Johnson's Othello. Played at points very restrained, whilst at others very stridently, the new husband on opening night came across less enamoured than Othello might, and encouraged our siding with Iago. Clare Yuille's Desdemona, is a girl skilful enough to marry behind her father's back but not knowing enough to manipulate a husband. In a production full of meaningful looks, Iago's far more experienced wife Eilidh Fraser's Emilia conveys volumes. Between the newly weds the attraction is portrayed as a pallid thing and the production's decisions make the couple less than the archetypal angel and noble hero, and yet leaves Iago as a devil incarnate. It's an interpretation that unsettlingly has us seeing Othello and Desdemona through Iago's eyes. Played at a fast, tight pace there are some oddities in the production. The beaten-up Roderigo's makeup looks like he's just lain too long in the Cyprus sun, the choice of ghastly sack dresses for Desdemona and Emilia whilst Shonagh Price's spirited Bianca wears a shapely, floaty high-class thirties dress and, just as the final curtain goes down, Iago makes a unnecessary and undermining move. The production works the audience over, so we hear ourselves laugh as a base, amoral manipulator destroys a man of different hue, a man whose heart and spirit shows better if not nearly pure metal. © Thelma Good 23 October 2004. - Published on EdinburghGuide.com Cast - Othello - Wil Johnson, Desdemona - Clare Yuille, Cassio - Steven Duffy, Iago - Liam Brennan, Emilia - Eilidh Fraser, Bianca - Shonagh Price, Roderigo - Richard Conlon, Duke/Lodovico - Malcolm Shields, Branbantio/Gratiano - Crawford Logan. Montano/Officier - Doug Russell, Senator/Soldier - Paul Nivison and Senator/Soldier - Kevin MacIssac. Theatre
Editor, Thelma Good's e-mail is
thelma@edinburghguide.com Theatre listings >
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