Daring and deliberately unconventional interpretations of the Bard’s great tragedy about power and jealousy abound as they do with almost all the play’s in the canon. Othello has been envisioned again with an emphasis on the action taking place in its own graphically conceptualized and realistically militarized time, as well as being dutifully respectful to the classic text. In the hands of director Sam Gold (Fun Home) for the New York Theater Workshop, it becomes the most extraordinary and chilling production of Shakespeare’s tragic play I have ever seen. That the story’s psychosexual subtext remains its most interesting aspect gives a creative director and his splendid cast plenty of opportunity to dig beneath all the obligatory sound and fury. Othello may not be able to completely escape his origins as the Moor of Venice, but the now un-moored (no pun intended) Army General we see in combat fatigues is played by a brilliantly intense David Oyelowo. He is still waging war with Turkey and in charge of a diverse multi-cultural squad of tough well-armed soldiers, including that weasel and second-in-command, Iago. He is played with steely eyed conviction by a terrific Daniel Craig. The evocative setting created designer Andrew Lieberman has the audience seated on bleachers (fairly comfortable) with backs that surround three-sides of the playing area. Flat army cots in rows are moved about on a plain wooden floor and pulled out of view for different scenes, as is all the equipment and the gear that fill the barracks. We are thrust into a world in which the characters whom we know traditionally are now seen in the light of modern warfare and even politics. As it has always been, it is the sexual politics that are at the forefront of this Othello. Although Shakespeare doesn’t dwell on or insinuate more than meets our eyes and ears in the various relationships, all revolving around Othello’s wife Desdemona’s innocence or lack of, we can always speculate in this case given the depth and the degree of nuance in the performances by both Oyelowo and Craig. Of all Shakespeare’s tragedies, Othello is the one that I have always found to be the most exasperating. Of course, it is to the play’s credit that it can rile one up time after time. It used to be that seeing this almost melodramatic dramatic trio catapulted to their doom for no more good reason than a misplaced handkerchief would make me want to yell out to Othello, “You stupid fool.” Although performed with passion run amok, Oyelowo’s Othello still too easily succumbs to that “green-eyed monster.” A victim of political and amorous intrigue, Othello is also notably burdened by his concealed insecurities not to mention his epileptic fits. That is enough baggage for any actor. Oyelowo, however, does very well by this given Othello’s tendency to rant and to rage, blinded as much by his sudden success and power as he is by the machinations of Iago, his ensign and closest friend. Mainly known as a film star, rugged-looking Craig has given laudable performances on Broadway in Betrayal and A Steady Rain. In this, his NYTW debut, he is spell-binding and invests the devious, duplicitous Iago with a steadfastly articulate voice and a stealthily Machiavellian swagger. Being more down-to-earth than demure, Rachel Brosnahan (NYTW debut) is not your typical Desdemona but she earns our empathy with her heartbreaking pleas. Finn Wittrock is virile and charismatic as the duped Lieutenant Cassio. Matthew Maher makes a strong impression as the misguided, always lurking-in-the-shadows Roderigo. There are fine performances by the two other two principal women Marsha Stephanie Blake, as Iago’s wife and Nikki Massoud, as Cassio’s mistress. The lighting design by Jane Cox and sound design by Bray Poor are as dramatically exciting as are the performances. Three hours and ten minutes have never gone by so swiftly and so thrillingly.
