Othello

The week in theatre: Othello; The Unfriend; On the Ropes – review

Brute force speaks volumes in Frantic Assembly’s breathtaking Othello; Steven Moffat and co flirt with farce; and the story of Windrush boxer Vernon Vanriel hits home in song

Susannah Clapp

29, Jan, 2023 @10:30 AM

Othello review – Clint Dyer makes this tragedy feel utterly new

Giles Terera stars in a thrilling production with a radical climax that explores the domestic violence in Shakespeare’s play

Arifa Akbar

01, Dec, 2022 @6:01 AM

Othello review – taut update from the superb Watermill ensemble

An excellent cast animate Karla Marie Sweet’s adaptation with a drilled menace, while contemporary songs are employed to remarkable effect

Gareth Llŷr Evans

23, Sep, 2022 @12:19 PM

Othello review – Frantic Assembly’s urgent, thrilling tragedy

This physical, modern-day version is immersed in violence, with gang members vying for sex and authority around a pool table

Mark Fisher

22, Sep, 2022 @9:33 AM

Shakespeare inspired to write Othello after being booed off stage

The bard learned from his humiliating experiences as an actor at the Globe to hone his playwright skills, academic says

Dalya Alberge

27, Aug, 2022 @12:00 PM

Nothello review – clever and joyful, Shakespeare upended

Desdemona’s twins step forward to speak out against the racist tropes that led to their parents’ tragedy in this inclusive, urgent production

Mark Fisher

12, May, 2022 @9:08 AM

Ex-prisoner’s remixed Othello targets new audiences

Hip-hop, grime and urban violence take centre stage in a new production of the Shakespeare tragedy

Vanessa Thorpe

11, May, 2019 @8:00 PM

Shakespeare can help British Muslims feel less excluded | Remona Aly

A new interpretation of Othello opens up portrayals of Islam that are absent from TV shows like Bodyguard, says journalist Remona Aly

Remona Aly

07, Nov, 2018 @6:00 AM

Othello review – Mark Rylance and André Holland get to heart of the play

Rylance is a fascinating and nihilistic Iago and André Holland exudes majestic dignity as Othello in Clare van Kampen’s lively and unsettling production

Michael Billington

02, Aug, 2018 @10:39 AM

Othello review – a contemporary conundrum

Although Golda Rosheuvel gives a tremendous performance as Othello, setting the play in the present undermines the tragedy

Clare Brennan

06, May, 2018 @6:00 AM

Othello review – lesbian Moor boldly puts gender under microscope

Playing a female Othello who has bedded Desdemona, Golda Rosheuvel casts new light on both Shakespeare and society

Lyn Gardner

04, May, 2018 @12:07 PM

Othello as an out lesbian: why Golda Rosheuvel's time is now

The actor is set to play Shakespeare’s army commander as a gay woman in Gemma Bodinetz’s new production at Liverpool’s Everyman