Review Roundup: Four-Person OTHELLO Opens at Bedlam

Directed by Eric Tucker, Bedlam‘s new production of Othello is now playing at the West End Theatre off-Broadway. The production features just four actors inhabiting the 19 roles of Othello. Read the reviews here!

Othello, a general in the Venetian army, sees his happy marriage to the beautiful Desdemona destroyed when his seemingly trustworthy ensign, Iago, suggests to him that she may be unfaithful, in William Shakespeare’s tragedy of revenge, jealousy and intrigue.

The cast of Othello includes Susannah Hoffman, Susannah Millonzi, Ryan Quinn, and Eric Tucker. Performances will continue through May 31.

Helen Shaw, The New York Times: If intensity is what you want, then Bedlam’s electrifying D.I.Y. “Othello” at the West End Theater will better fit your needs: Shakespeare’s thriller moves faster than a freight train with broken brakes; I spent so long on the edge of my seat, I actually wrecked my back.

David Finkle, New York Stage Review: Given the demands on the actors and their constantly meeting the challenges, the performances are exemplary. Perhaps the highest point of many high points is the scene during which Iago plays on Othello’s being persuaded of Desdemona’s infidelity. Though Othello insists he’s not “easily jealous,” Iago sees through the demur and only accelerates his cunning.

Thom Geier, Culture Sauce: In the end, I wish Tucker had gone further to streamline the text and make it resonate more clearly to modern audiences, or to provide a consistent framework (like that Baldwin quote) that carried through the whole show. With so few actors playing so many roles, it’s harder to identify with any one of them for very long, to put ourselves in their shoes and imagine how we too might become that monster.

Patrick Maley, Exeunt: What might ultimately be missing here in the theatrical playfulness that is so fundamental to Bedlam and Tucker’s direction. This is a good, unique, and smart Othello, but it lacks the fun that undergirds much of Bedlam’s past successes.

Charles Isherwood, The Wall Street Journal: Staging a Shakespeare tragedy with just four actors sounds like a potentially comic stunt or an unfortunate advertisement of dire economic straits, in either case a radical diminishment of the play. But the Bedlam theater company’s choice to mount a production of “Othello” using just a quartet of performers has a certain literary justification.

Average Rating: 74.0%