REVIEW: Othello, Sam Wannamaker Playhouse ✭✭✭

Othello at Sam Wannamaker Playhouse

Ellen McDougall’s Othello is a very solid production, with excellent performances and a number of intriguing original motifs. Whilst these did not all work for me, mileage will vary between audience members, and the production’s many strengths and the excellent venue means it is to be recommended.

REVIEW: Othello, Royal Shakespeare Theatre ✭✭✭

Othello at the Royal Shakespeare Company

This is a curious production of Othello. You get the bones of the story, clearly, but the flesh, the marrow, the heart – all of which depends upon the rich characters of the central trio and the way the actors approach their motivations, fears and tempestuous feelings – is thin on the ground. As Othello says: “Certain men should be what they seem”. In appearance, word and action. In Khan’s hands, and with this casting, none of Othello, Desdemona nor Iago are what they seem according to Shakespeare’s text.

REVIEW: The Merchant Of Venice, Royal Shakespeare Theatre ✭✭✭✭✭

RSC Merchant Of Venice

Findlay’s production of The Merchant Of Venice, like all great productions of Shakespeare, is brimming with ideas, spoken with assurance and intelligence, and illuminates the text insightfully and vigorously. Refreshing and fascinating. Findlay breathes complexity and assuredness into Shakespeare’s play by focussing on sex and greed. But there is no shortage of hatred either.