The odd one out

A stellar Othello in which the narrative takes centre stage puts the spotlight on the theme of the outsider, which threads through many of this month's productions

- Michael Billington

WHO would have thought it? At a time when directors' theatre is all the rage, we have a production of Othello at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, London SW1, that is based on acting, language and narrative. This is not to deny the contributions of the director, Tom Morris, and his designer, Ti Green, who creates images of iridescent beauty, but it is one of those evenings when you come out discussing Shakespeare's play, rather than the ingenuity of its interpreters. It helps that the casting is first-rate. There have been many notable Othellos recently including Adrian Lester, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Giles Terera, and David Harewood—who first played the role at the National in 1997—is ideal. He is now the right age, has a soldierly aspect and a stately dignity that reinforces Othello's claim that 'I fetch my life and being from men of royal siege'. Yet Mr Harewood also hints at a possessive love of Desdemona that is open to exploitation.

By chance, the night before Othello I saw an extraordinary Mexican film by Luis Buñuel, El, that shows how erotic obsession can lead to neurotic mania and there is something akin to that in Mr Harewood's tragic disintegration as his trust in Desdemona is eroded. The source of the breakdown is, of course, Iago, whom Toby Jones plays with just the right two-facedness. The key to this Iago is firstly his fury at being demoted to Othello's 'ancient', which is here rephrased as 'flag-waver'. The other clue to Mr Jones's Iago is his rancorous envy. He is initially a disgusted onlooker at the golden marriage of Othello and Desdemona and he later says of Cassio, 'he hath a daily beauty in his life that makes me ugly'. Mr Jones doesn't go out of his way to offer Freudian explanations for Iago's evil: he's simply steeped in hatred of other people's virtues.