Othello at the Oxford Playhouse

The reviews in the press had not been kind to this RSC touring production of Othello. However, I was impressed by so many aspects that director Kathryn Hunter had brought to the play. The speaking of the actors was, for the most part, easily understood. It started off a little too fast, but settled down as it progressed. I was disappointed by Patrice Naiambana in the title role. He looked the part, but I found his acting strange. But Natalia Tena as Desdemona and Michael Gould as Iago were excellent.

This is one Shakespeare play that I had never read or seen. I was a bit surprised that Iago did not meet a sticky end. The one line that really stood out for me was when a drunken Cassio says "that men should put an enemy in their mouths to steal away their brains". Binge drinking was with us even then.

I liked the modernish setting and the costumes for Desdemona were beautiful.The musicians were splendid and the set was terrific. The use of two huge halves of the Venetian bridge was imaginative. A picture of the same bridge also forms the introductory page of the section on Othello in a book on Shakespeare's plays that I think is the best around. It is called the "Essential Shakespeare Handbook" and is an illustrated and highly accessible volume that no lover of the bard's work should be without.