This vibrant, vicious, violent, and vivacious two-hour adaptation by Scott Graham and Simon Hoggett for Frantic Assembly at the Lyric Hammersmith places Othello in a land of gangs, drugs, and booze.
‘Vividly atmospheric & kinetic production’: OTHELLO – National Theatre ★★★★
The National Theatre’s Lyttelton stage has been transformed with steps and terraces around the performance space, creating a look that is a cross between an ancient greek theatre and a fighting pit. Before the play starts, images of past productions of Othello and the year they were performed are projected onto the steps and back wall as a reminder of the story’s timelessness.
‘Continues to resonate’: OTHELLO – National Theatre
Othello at the National Theatre is a production that has thought very carefully about the things it wants to say and, particularly, what Othello has meant at different points in its performance history. Clint Dyer’s perspective is not on fire just yet but it soon will be, bringing a meaningful reflection on Shakespeare’s tale to the stage while clearly distinguishing it from all of those that have come before.
‘Razor-sharp &captivating’: FRANTIC ASSEMBLY: OTHELLO – Touring ★★★★★
Lean, mean and totally uncompromising, Frantic Assembly bring a newly updated and gritty version of Shakespeare’s Othello to The Lowry as part of their UK tour. Razor-sharp and captivating, Frantic Assembly’s pulsating and athletic physical style adds new depth to Shakespeare’s text.
NEWS: NT launches new streaming service National Theatre at Home
The National Theatre, in partnership with Bloomberg Philanthropies, has launched National Theatre at Home, a brand-new streaming platform making their much-loved productions available online to watch anytime, anywhere worldwide.
‘It felt like we were all creating something very special together’: A fond farewell to The Show Must Go Online series
I may be woefully behind on my show write-ups, but I couldn’t not mark The Show Must Go Online coming to an end – at least until further notice.
‘You feel you have seen an epic’: 8 HOTELS – Chichester ★★★★
Nicholas Wright’s sharp play imagines the US touring production of the first black Othello and its aftermath in the uneasy years of the McCarthyite search for Communist sympathisers.
Rise Up: Quirkspace continues to create innovative theatre
Quirkspace is a company that was formed in 2018 and has always been about creating bold and exciting theatre. With a range of artists and quirky/unconventional venues, the company has produced theatre in spaces that aren’t really known about and aren’t put to artistic use.
‘Can you have too much of a good thing?’: Sex, plays and casting
Anything which makes me think about these plays in a new way is a bonus. I also want actors – irrespective of their sex – to have maximum opportunities.
‘Doesn’t quite live up to its promise’: OTHELLO – Union Theatre ★★★
Closing Phil Willmott’s ‘Enemies of the People’ 2019 Essential Classics season is Shakespeare’s classic Othello, marking the centenary of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, with events set in the British Raj.
Debbie’s favourite female performances of 2018
Mind the Blog rounds up her favourite female performances in the theatre during 2018.
What’s Debbie looking forward to in October 2018?
It honestly doesn’t let up. At all. After an Edinburgh-focused August, and a ‘keep myself busy at all costs’ September (mostly to avoid the hell that is rush hour transport), October has rolled in, bursting at the seams because there is too much to do.
‘Generously places the focus firmly on plot and character’: OTHELLO – Shakespeare’s Globe
Claire van Kampen’s decision to eschew gimmick/concept is a bold statement in a production of Othello that generously places the focus firmly on plot and character, and pays dividends for it.
Review Round-up: Othello at Shakespeare’s Globe
Mark Rylance and Sheila Atim star in Claire van Kampen’s production of Shakespeare’s Othello, running in rep at The Globe until 13 October 2018. Here’s what critics have been saying about it…
‘Who knew one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies could be funny?’: OTHELLO – Shakespeare’s Globe
Who knew one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies could be funny? Director and composer Claire van Kampen has tapped into a rare rhythm that sees Iago as a weaselly, clownish man lacking power and finesse, yet still manages to twist Othello into knots
Mark recaps last week: Ruthie Ann Miles, Ian McKellen, Moulin Rouge, big openings & best reviews
From news headlines and Twitter gems to must-read columns and the biggest openings in London, New York and Edinburgh, Mark Shenton – currently resident in Provincetown, Massachusetts for the summer – rounds up the most interesting theatre goings-on that made his finely tuned radar. Ian McKellen, Rosemary Harris, Laura Wade, Mark Rylance, Dominic Dromgoole and desperate EdFringe review pleas all feature this week…
‘Workmanlike but ultimately disappointing’: OTHELLO – Shakespeare’s Globe ★★★
Mark Rylance turns Shakespeare’s most sinister & Machiavellian of villains into a fawning clown in his wife’s disappointing and workmanlike production of Othello at The Globe.
‘A bold, zippy, lively affair’: OTHELLO – Shakespeare’s Globe ★★★
Overall, then, Van Kampen’s production of Othello is a bold, zippy, lively affair that slips neatly into today’s sensibilities, underlining its message of the destructiveness of jealousy, the violent potential of unfulfilled ambition and the abuse of women.
‘If Rylance is what people came for, then Sheila Atim’s performance is surely what they stay for’: OTHELLO – Shakespeare’s Globe ★★★
Claire van Kampen’s production of Othello is accelerated; rapidity moving past alacrity into a sort of ‘can’t stop to chat or I’ll miss my train’ mode where the players are constantly coming and going,
What’s Debbie looking forward to in August 2018?
Though at the moment it looks quiet, I have finally got a draft schedule together for my time in Edinburgh, and it seems as if my plan to ease myself in has just gone out of the window… It’s going to be a hectic week for me up there, but it has to be done!