views from the gods

saints and sinners of the stage and screen

Othello
Leicester Square Theatre
15th April 2014

★★★☆☆

Annabel Bates and Nari Blair-Mangat as Desdemona and Othello

Photography © Grassroots Shakespeare London/Oliver Towse

Good things may come in small packages, but sometimes the size of the package can leave you feeling a little bit put out. The Leicester Square Theatre is a great venue, central but without noise-bleed from trains or tourists; however, performing in the venue's Lounge as opposed to the Main House does have its drawbacks. The Lounge is what you would call intimate in normal circumstances, and in this staging of Othello by Grassroots Shakespeare London, it seems that every possible seat in the West End has been rounded up and crammed in. The line around the stage appears to be more of a vague suggestion than an instruction to the cast, who frequently step over it, and if you're in the front row, you frequently risk being spat on or sat on.

The running time too is a problem - at only a whisker under two hours, it verges on the ridiculous. Scene changes are admittedly swift and the pace never falters, but the company needs to either work in an interval or cut some of the material. Unless you happen to be the Reduced Shakespeare Company, ploughing on straight through generally isn't an option for this material. Time and time again fidgety audiences prove anything over 90 minutes just doesn't work.

If you can get past the above issues - and not all will - this production is top quality. Yes, the audience members are far too close to each other and in another seat, I might have been less generous, but the proximity between the audience and the actors brings a haunting intensity to the show. This is a classic staging of Othello without any modern trickery, with nowhere to hide (really, if there was a space, the company would have stuck another chair in it). Grassroots may not understand venue logistics, but they do understand Shakespeare, and this is always apparent in their work. All Othello really needs is a director and a bigger venue. It's a shame neither were available, because I desperately wanted to give this piece a higher rating.

Emily Jane Kerr and James Alexandrou as Emilia and Iago

Photography © Grassroots Shakespeare London/Oliver Towse

James Alexandrou is wonderfully unsettling as Iago - in his monologues he stares down individual members of the audience, pausing and letting his words hang in the air uncomfortably. As a former Eastenders boy, the cynics amongst you might suspect his face is on the posters purely to shift tickets, but the superb quality of his acting more than justifies the casting decision. Never mind the man whom the play is named after; for me, you need a great Iago or the show is lost. (The Oliviers panel seemingly agree, having just crowned Rory Kinnear for his turn in the National's recent production.) Alexander's portrayal is of a man equally disgruntled, shifting from jovial to menacing with an alarming ease, manipulating all those around him.

The relationship between Desdemona (Annabel Bates) and Othello (Nari Blair-Mangat) is set up with a silent marriage ceremony at the start of the play. Although neither character speaks a word, the exchanges of loving, happy glances between the pair provide a background for the tragedy that later unfolds. Over the course of the epic two hours, Bates' Desdemona demonstrates herself to be sweet, innocent and above all, dedicated to her husband, just as her opening scenes suggest. Blair-Mangat's Othello is sincere, and makes for a believable leader, but his jealousy - the "green-eyed monster which doth mock/the meat it feeds on" - appears to be entirely created by Iago, rather than any existing doubt which his supposed friend works at.

The sudden irrationality of Othello and indeed the abrupt downfall of Cassio (Boris Mitkov) are both accidental victims of the running length. With some more time to pause and reflect, there's no doubt that this would be more powerful. There's little to fault in any individual contribution, it's just no one is keeping an eye on the overall picture.

It's difficult not to recommend a Grassroots play, particularly as they do, after all, have such a knack for making Shakespeare accessible. But whilst I do believe this is very much worth seeing, a second run somewhere else really would be something to shout about. In the words of Kirsty and Phil, sometimes it's all about location, location, location.

Othello opened on 2nd April and runs until 26th April 2014 at the Leicester Square Theatre.

Nearest tube station: Leicester Square (Northern, Piccadilly)



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