Othello Presented at the Lyttelton Theatre, National Theatre, London (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Othello Presented at the Lyttelton Theatre, National Theatre, London Gemma Miller Othello Presented at the Lyttelton Theatre, National Theatre, London. 30 November 2022–21 January 2023. Directed by Clint Dyer. Set design by Chloe Lamford. Costume design by Michael Vale. Lighting design by Jai Morjaria. Sound design and composition by Pete Malkin and Benjamin Grant. With Jack Bardoe (Roderigo/System), Joe Bolland (Messenger/System), Rory Fleck Byrne (Cassio/System), Kirsty J. Curtis (Bianca/System), Peter Eastland (System), Tanya Franks (Emilia/System), Colm Gormley (Gentleman/Officer/System), Paul Hilton (Iago), Gareth Kennerley (Montano/System), Joshua Lacey (Lodovico/System), Rosy McEwan (Desdemona), Martin Marquez (Duke of Venice/System), Katie Matsell (System), Amy Newton (System), Sabi Perez (System), Steffan Rizzi (Gentleman/Senator/System), Jay Simpson (Brabantio/Gratiano/System), Giles Terera (Othello), and Ryan Whittle (Voice/System). Since its foundation in 1963, the Royal National Theatre has staged five productions of Othello, the most recent of which before this latest offering was just nine years ago—Nicholas Hytner’s well-received 2013 production starring Adrian Lester and Rory Kinnear. However, times have changed, and the 2022 staging was very clearly an Othello for the post-Brexit-era, Black Lives Matter moment. National Theatre’s deputy artistic director Clint Dyer, the first Black British artist to have worked there as an actor, writer, and director, has spoken in interviews about seeing posters of Laurence Olivier as Othello in the National Theatre’s auditorium. The image of Olivier in blackface apparently “broke [his] heart,” and he was moved to scratch “Shame on you” across the whites of his eyes (Marshall). Almost twenty years later, Dyer has finally had the chance to direct his own production of Othello, and it was one that both acknowledged and consciously broke from the problematic performance history of this play. As I entered the Lyttelton auditorium, I was confronted with projections of playbills across the back wall of the stage. These were images from previous productions of Othello, from its first performance in 1604 to the most recent twenty-first-century revivals. Downstage, a janitor was mopping up a large puddle of blood, pausing every now and then to look out into the auditorium. Was he clearing up the blood from the last performance or from the past 400 years? The fact that the performance ended with blood seeping up from below the stage suggested a cyclicality that even Dyer’s production could not break. The set was a raised gray platform, flanked on three sides by steps leading upwards and lighting rigs exposed in the wings. When the lights went down, “The Moor of Venice” [End Page 161] in a typeface reminiscent of that of the First Folio scrolled across the top step. Othello’s status as an outsider, who is both “of ” and not “of ” Venice, served as a reminder to audiences that this is a play primarily about race and alienation. Click for larger view View full resolution Othello (Giles Terera) and Desdemona (Rosy McEwan) in Othello, dir. Clint Dyer. The National Theatre, 2022. Photo by Myah Jeffers, courtesy of the National Theatre. The function of the set—as both a Greek amphitheater and a gladiatorial arena—became apparent when the ensemble, which was called the “system” in the program, gathered on the steps. All actors except Paul Hilton as Iago, Rosy McEwan as Desdemona, and Giles Terera as Othello doubled as members of the “system.” At times they sat, menacing and silent, watching the tragedy unfold. At other times, they silently cheered and clapped through Iago’s most virulent soliloquies, delivered with chilling control by Hilton, or interjected their own racist slurs. During Othello’s speech to the senate in act one, scene three, Roderigo blended in with this chorus, while ominously fashioning a noose out of a length of rope. At one point, Iago animated each member of the chorus with a touch to the shoulder like a grim puppet master. They came on-stage wearing grotesque black masks and carrying riot shields during act three, scene three, and, as Othello prepared to smother Desdemona, they twitched in eager anticipation. The chorus indicated that racism was not [End Page 162] merely the domain of...