Othello - National Theatre Live

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When a Shakespeare play undergoes time travel, to be set in a different time and place to its Elizabethan original, even when it succeeds in the transition there tends to be some minutes of struggle before we readjust ourselves. But when it works, it can add another dimension to the performance, bringing timeless themes slap-bang into the here and now.

Nicholas Hynter's production of Othello works uncomfortably well, making the demons of manipulation and jealousy uncomfortably real and close.

Set in a military camp closely resembling Cyprus this traditional tragedy becomes a searing psycho-drama more convincing and more compelling than any Hollywood epic. Bleak reinforced concrete, glaring industrial lights, and soul-less neglected toilet blocks make for grim sets in which to place a harrowing tale.

Such is the strength of Rory Kinnear's Iago that the play seems at times more about him than Othello. Lester's Othello begins with an ease and an understated authority. All of this is undermined because he chooses to trust his comrade in arms, and to doubt the transparently genuine love of his wife.

We have all met an Iago – someone who is convinced that their own lack of success must be due to the iniquity of others rather than any shortcoming of their own, and who gets great enjoyment from the discomfiture of the great. Resentment and the desire for revenge drive him.

And it all ends in a bleak bedroom where Desdemona, in white Tee-shirt and purple undies, meets her end at the hands of a man still convinced of his moral righteousness while his reason is warped by unfounded jealousy.

For three hours we have been kept engaged – locked into the disintegration of Othello's powerful persona and the destruction of Desdemona's trusting love.

The play is uncontestably great – and this production enhances that greatness.



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