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Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
It’s a rare treat to see Shakespeare’s text take centre stage, but this production has little fizz or urgency
3/5
In this theatrical age where the directorial concept is king, it is refreshing and more than a little surprising to come across a production almost entirely devoid of gimmicks. The dress here is traditional – there are many men in big boots and women in complicated costumes held together by layers of ribbon – and so is the approach. Shakespeare students of all ages will enjoy the increasingly rare treat of the text being allowed to take centre stage. Yet whisper it softly: the RSC’s latest take on Othello is not very exciting.
It’s certainly a challenge to believe in an all-consuming passion between the Moor (American actor John Douglas Thompson) and Desdemona (Juliet Rylance) that has propelled them to marry in secret, away from the scrutiny of the Venetian nobility. Thompson’s Othello has the grace and bearing of a dignified elder statesman, facing outwards to include all levels of audience seating in his calm and noble eloquence in Act One. Rylance in turn imbues Desdemona with a keen sense of earnestness and honesty, meaning that even if we manage to believe in their love to start with, it is too much of a stretch to accept that it would descend so swiftly into venomous jealousy.
With this lack of fizz and urgency at the very centre of Tim Carroll’s production, (too) much rests on Iago (Will Keen) to keep the sparks flying. Overlooked for promotion by Othello, he is a softly spoken schemer on a venomous revenge mission and as with anyone who insists on keeping their voice low at all times, we wonder what tumults of unprocessed feeling lie beneath. Carroll makes us hear and startle afresh at the number of times other characters describe Iago as ‘honest.’ This whispering villain has all the decent folk fooled, even though his pragmatic wife Emilia (Anastasia Hille) has uneasy presentiments of wrongdoing from the vantage point of her troubled marriage.
A bare stage with tenebrous lighting is flanked by a muted backdrop of beaten gold; the colour palette of Judith Bowden’s design and costumes are delicately redolent of 17th-century art. A sweeping curtain of thin shimmering strands is variously deployed, stunningly so in the devastating final act. The curtain descends to frame Desdemona on all sides, making it appear as though she is trapped in a translucent four-poster marital bed. Murdered by her love, she wafts around in the frond-like confines, an innocent wraith in a pure white nightgown. Grimly, inexorably Emilia, singing, joins her in this striking realm of the dead. It’s a memorable closing image in a solid but unmemorable production.
Until November 23 (01789 331111, rsc.org.uk)
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4/5