But out of this pool, steel tables rise for the military HQ where Othello is a national hero. We are in a brave new world, mixing ancient and modern with assurance. The trouble with all this is that, over three-and-a-quarter hours, Khan gives us too much time to consider both the nobility and the hard luck story of Hugh Quarshie’s Othello.
I’ve seen the play despatched in two hours as a headlong descent into jealousy. To withstand more than three hours’ scrutiny, the acting must be colossal — and on this score Khan’s handsome production drifts.
This Othello's more of an angry dad: Modern Moor is too morose, writes PATRICK MARMION!
When I was at school, we were taught to think of Othello as a ‘noble Moor’. At university, he became a victim of institutional racism set up by his cynical ensign, Iago.
Iqbal Khan’s new production for the RSC, however, urges us to see Shakespeare’s play without a racial perspective. It is a vision of a multi-cultural Venice rendered with an almost sci-fi design by Ciaran Bagnall.
The peeling plaster and damp stone slapped by Venetian canals still evoke the city’s antiquity, while angular light on fractured arches and a broken rose window add a religious atmosphere. We even get a gondola wobbling in a shallow canal at the centre of the stage.
But out of this pool, steel tables rise for the military HQ where Othello is a national hero. We are in a brave new world, mixing ancient and modern with assurance. The trouble with all this is that, over three-and-a-quarter hours, Khan gives us too much time to consider both the nobility and the hard luck story of Hugh Quarshie’s Othello.
I’ve seen the play despatched in two hours as a headlong descent into jealousy. To withstand more than three hours’ scrutiny, the acting must be colossal — and on this score Khan’s handsome production drifts.
But out of this pool, steel tables rise for the military HQ where Othello is a national hero. We are in a brave new world, mixing ancient and modern with assurance. The trouble with all this is that, over three-and-a-quarter hours, Khan gives us too much time to consider both the nobility and the hard luck story of Hugh Quarshie’s Othello.
I’ve seen the play despatched in two hours as a headlong descent into jealousy. To withstand more than three hours’ scrutiny, the acting must be colossal — and on this score Khan’s handsome production drifts.