Othello is one of the most concentrated and intense of Shakespeare's tragedies. The action though moving a little has, apart from the first act, the sense of being isolated in Cyprus and thus more concentrated on an island. Later, when Shakespeare returned to island whose isolation (apt word) is part of the concentration of the play it was for the healing of wounds in the Tempest. In Othello the concentration magnifies the evolution of the worm of jealousy working its evil way into Othello's soul, being introduced and nurtured by Iago. Even the first act in Venice seems to inhabit the dark and stagnant passages of that most emotive of cities.
      This sense of concentrated evil and focus on the hero's decline under the evil influences of his lieutenant was marvellously caught by the company Cheek by Jowl, whose minimal sets and electrifying acting brought out all the horrors of the play.
      Right from the start the magic began, with Roderigo (Matthew Douglas) and Iago (Jonny Phillips) whisepering to each other across the width of the acting-area. This is as if the opening lines "Tush! never tell me" was intended to set the mood of illicit confidences being exchanged throughout. A clandestine world of intrigue undermining the state's apparent control and equanimity. Is there a city more metaphorical than Venice for this two-layered narrative?
      Jonny Phillips's Iago is a masterful conjuring up of the innate evil that seems the only reason he acts against Othello. Jealousies over promotion and women hover and inform but Phillips suggests from the beginning the ‘spin' that all these will be given, and take. From his Doc Martens through his combat-geat to his cropped scalp through his lean meanness he is every inch the menacing Iago and his performance grips from the beginning.
      Iago's menace is masterfully offset by Nonso Anozie's strong but ingenuous Othello. Larger in bulk than Iago his presence perpetually suggests a giant that has to be brought down by lesser men. But Othello has sometimes been portrayed as being savage in his moods and only superficially civilised. Anozie's portrayal is more suave and controlled. The thoughts that gradually corrupt him appear to germinate less obviously and to be sown in a ground that would be common to all. Othello's blackness does not set his apart, as Coleridge and others suggested Shakespeare intended. Instead it is his power and control that are both his strength and the weakness Iago finds. Honest is what Othello uses repeatedely as an adjective for Iago. Iago is not, but Othello wants to find him such as this is his own great quality. But his blindness undermines him and makes his downfall terrifyingly inevitable. The slow progress of Othello's decline is superbly paced by Anozie, who makes even the difficutl fit-scene seem not incredible but just another stage.
      Declan Donnellan's production introduces a strong element of sexual tension into the whole play whose unusual permeation is highlighted in the naïve and hopeful Cassio's (Ryan Kiggell) amorous excitement resulting from his being beaten by the superbly tarty Bianca (Kirsty Besterman). Kiggell's Cassio seems eminently credibly manipulated by Phillips's Iago, just as it seems similarly believable that Jaye Griffiths's Emilia and Caroline Martin's Desdemona seem unaware of what schemes are hatching around them till it is too late.
      A legend has it that a woman shouted out in a performance of Othello, "Why doesn't someone tell the black bastard she didn't do it!". And one critic once described Othello as Shakespeare's most "unlikely play". Naïve as both might be, it is a difficulty in the play to believe that no innocent can see the evil prowling round. Yet one of the great strengths of this production is that it is entirely credible that Emilia does not put two and two together over Iago's wanting Desdemona's handkerchief. Much of the means by which this is achieved is that this is not a star-show with the most famous actors playing Othello or Iago or Desdemona. This is a company performance which makes all the small interactions between the characters more credible. It is almost as if Iago's corrupting seed could only have grown in a garden ripe for plucking.
      There are no weak performances in this excellent production, and the lines rolled off each actors' lips both naturally and believably. Also superlative was the pacing and the using of significant silence. Even the school party sitting behind me stopped scribbling notes and remaining aloof with their drinks and sweets. The play moved as relentlessly to its horrible conclusion an inexorably, frighteningly and compellingly as any of the best productions I have seen.
Roderick Swanston