BWW Reviews: OTHELLO, Greenwich Theatre, October 10 2011

Pared back to a desert island menage-a-trois, with an absent Cassio crackling in over a short-wave radio, Robin Belfield's adaptation of Othello is raw, raucous and rancorous. Set in the Bahamas, with Othello a Conchy-Joe (White Bahamian) and Desdemona and Iago of African descent, the play's ethnic faultlines are blurred, but the story of how a proud man can be manipulated by a man possessed of low cunning and by jealous rage is all the sharper.

Moses Hardwick's Iago is a grinning, scheming, playfully evil man who knows that he can use his understanding of human nature to set traps seemingly for the fun of watching the mighty fall. Never losing his cool, he is all the more terrifying in his calm as he unleashes chaos. Craig Pinder's Othello swings from joyous rapture in simply being the man who can call Desdemona his wife, to an almost reluctant killer, dancing to the tune Iago plays without realising his fate until too late. Pinder's performance brims with emotion, but sometimes, to my ear at least, the words were lost in the turmoil of his torment. Belinda Owusu slides down and down into her fate with innocence and anguish, pleading her case without ever surrendering the dignity of a woman falsely accused.

Clearly directed at schools and colleges, Belfield's three-hander both suffers and gains from its compression. It suffers with an over-emphasis on characters standing still explaining what has happened off-stage, with long discussions of the whereabouts of the famous handkerchief. It gains through its focus on three characters who, once set on their course, seem incapable of retreating from what fate has in store for them.

It asks questions about masculine pride, the position of women in a patriarchal society and how a sense of right and wrong can be corrupted by mere words - stuff that will give teenagers much to think about. It sacrifices some of the poetry of the text in that cause, but delivers an Othello relevant to kids who have grown up watching the easy manipulations of soap operas and (one hopes) makes them thirsty to explore Shakespeare's works more fully.

Othello is at Greenwich Theatre until 12 October and on tour and is supported by an excellent educational pack.

To post a comment, you must register and login.

Don't Miss a UK Regional News Story
Sign up for all the news on the Spring season, discounts & more...