OTHELLO

Theatre Royal Haymarket

★★★★★

“gorgeous to look at and stunningly staged”

Shakespeare’s “Othello” is categorised as a tragedy. After all, the full title ‘The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice’ puts it in that box, although it has often been argued that it is not so easy to pigeonhole. While not specifically a ‘Problem Play’, it always has been problematic, due to its controversial and complex issues – particularly regarding race and misogyny. However, there is no problem whatsoever with Tom Morris’ beautifully and stylishly directed revival which captivates throughout, focusing more on the troubled motivations of an unhinged protagonist and his antagonist, Iago.

David Harewood is an imposing Othello with an implicit vulnerability, the degree of which he portrays with an understated precision. Morris makes explicit Othello’s epilepsy, but it is Harewood who manages to convey that there is much more going on under the skin. This play is less about the blackness of his skin than the greenness of the eyes. The monster looms large, drawing audible gasps from the audience at the key moments of violence. Toby Jones, as a deliciously impish Iago, steals more than his fair share of jealousy too. In turn, he shares his resentful and covetous secrets with the audience while manipulating his victims. A show-stealing, darkly mischievous performance that amazingly manages to tease out perverse comedy with impeccable timing; but still be pretty creepy too.

The timeless quality is enhanced by Ti Green’s use of modern costume, set against her opulent, regal backdrops that could belong to any era. The gold trimmings of the theatre’s auditorium stretch to the back of the stage in the shape of gilded picture frames that slip away to reveal the bed on which the murderous climax takes place. Richard Howell’s lighting creates suitably unsettling moods, softening us with warm coppers and cobalts, before shattering our complacency with crashes of white. PJ Harvey’s music (composed with Jon Nicholls) bubbles underneath, often unnoticed and subliminal; unnerving yet still magnificently stylised.

Caitlin Fitzgerald’s Desdemona matches the grandeur. Regal in stature she fights back at her husband’s powerplay with a stillness and strength that (almost) conceals her fear of her own inevitable fate. Video projections reveal the dual emotions in her eyes up close – a fitting omen for the final tragic scenes. It is in these scenes that the peripheral characters take centre stage too – notably Vinette Robinson’s Emilia, the wife of Iago, who breaks out of her subservient pragmatism to deliver lines rich with emotion. Luke Treadaway, as the easily led, hard-done-by Cassio, is impressively charismatic, mixing gallantry and gullibility in explosive measures. Tom Byrne, as Roderigo, adds a lighter touch. Another pawn in Iago’s great scheme, he is more of a fool for love, allowing himself to be easily manipulated.

The whole story is crystal clear, each actor masterfully enunciating Shakespeare’s text and projecting to the rafters with ease. The only slight quibble is that the writing is, at times, a bit long-winded, to say the least. But who’s going to argue with the playwright? This slick production swiftly steers through the soliloquies to stab at the unpalatable truths of human nature. Shakespeare may have written ‘Othello’ surrounded by different principles and outlooks in society, but Morris and company take his words and speak to us in a modern setting with just as much urgency. The show is gorgeous to look at and stunningly staged. Pacy and provocative, filmic and theatrical, full of dark humour and darker candour. Compelling, chilling and thrilling; and staged with the choreographic fluidity of a ballet.

OTHELLO

Theatre Royal Haymarket

Reviewed on 4th November 2025

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Brinkhoff/Mögenburg

Previously reviewed at this venue:

SALOMÉ | ★★★★ | September 2025

THE SCORE | ★★★½ | February 2025

WAITING FOR GODOT | ★★★★ | September 2024

FARM HALL | ★★★★ | August 2024

HEATHERS | ★★★ | July 2021

OTHELLO

★★★★

“does not lack suspense, or imaginative touches in the staging”

Adapting Joe Simpson’s epic tale of survival on the Peruvian Siula Grande mountain for the theatre is no easy task. But then playwright David Greig, like mountaineer Simpson, is not the kind of man to avoid a challenge just because it’s difficult, or has never been done before. Nevertheless, theatres, like mountains, are well known for the unexpected ways in which they can put obstacles in the paths of even the most gifted. This revival of Greig’s play at the Duke of York’s Theatre in London just misses a chance at greatness.

Greig was invited to produce a play script of Touching the Void after director Tom Morris, inspired by Simpson’s book, and the BAFTA winning film of the same title, wanted to adapt it for the stage. Sensibly opting against a naturalistic interpretation, Greig wrote instead a “mythic reading of a real event”. He changes the sequence of events—beginning instead with an imagined wake for Joe after he has been left for dead on the mountain. Greig also brings on board a new character, Sarah, Joe’s sister, who in reality had died some years before Joe and climbing partner Simon Yates make their climb (Greig obtained Simpson’s permission to write in Sarah). These changes serve as powerful attention getters; Sarah herself becomes an important part of Joe’s fight for survival in the second half of the show. And then there is the non-human force, the Void, which could be interpreted as the mythic antagonist against which Joe and Simon must battle to win the mountain, and live to tell the tale.

Touching the Void does not lack suspense, or imaginative touches in the staging. Watching actors Josh Williams (Joe) and Angus Yellowlees (Simon) climb all over Ti Green’s ingenious set is exciting, though the climbing accolades should probably go to Fiona Hampton (Sarah) when she takes an impromptu climbing lesson by scrambling up a “mountain face” composed entirely of pub tables and chairs haphazardly attached to the wall downstage right. It’s moments like these that emphasise the theatricality of director Tom Morris’ production, but they can only do so much in holding the audience’s attention throughout the entire play.

The choice of venue for this revival reveals the weaknesses in the script. Even with the actual proscenium arch removed, the Duke of York’s is still a problematic space for a play that cries out to be performed, at the very least, on a more flexible stage. Script wise, it’s clever of Greig to use the character of Sarah to propel the drama forward (she is the one that insists her brother cannot be dead, and goes in search of him) but the play still devolves into a belaboured enactment of Joe’s painful struggle back to base camp in the second, with Sarah becoming a product of his fevered imaginings as he hovers between life and death. From a seat in the stalls at the Duke of York’s, it is hard to see Joe in the second half, because he spends so much time flat on the stage floor. Greig’s dramatisation of the Void, a force that cannot be seen even though we see its effects on the characters, is a brilliant touch, but the ethereal nature of its presence makes it an unreliable source for narrative clarification. And finally, it is impossible to avoid the distancing effect that a picture frame stage places upon audiences watching actors come to grips simultaneously with intimate scenes set against vast panoramas.

Reviewed by Dominica Plummer

Photography by Michael Wharley

Tag Archives: Jon Nicholls

OTHELLO

★★★★★

Theatre Royal Haymarket

OTHELLO

Theatre Royal Haymarket

★★★★★

“gorgeous to look at and stunningly staged”