Othello at the Donmar Warehouse
(21 December 2007)

Pity thy soul for it hath missed Othello at the Donmar. Curse thy luck for there hath never been a better Othello. And there are no more parchments that will let thy person enter into the chambers that display before the eyes of the lucky few love, hate, humour and tragedy in perfect a measure as never hath blessed the stage upon which many a bard’s words have been spoken…

Enough of that…on with today’s words…as Othello even if spoken in Shakespearean is valid today as it was then…

An Othello – we get to know him not through mysterious tales he tells Desdemona or the delightful pleasures he sure is capable of giving but his weakness. Such weakness, such low confidence in self that he trusts another man’s words more than his own instinct. A man – not just a man Chiwetel Ejiofor – whose shaking and screams of “blood blood blood” make you see the red, whose desperate search for the handkerchief he’d given his fair love makes you want to jump off the balcony and tell him the truth and save them both.

And not just Othello…

An Iago – who has two faces…one which you’d fall in love with in an instant (after all he is played by Ewan McGregor) and the other will haunt your deepest dreams forever. Should you encountered his wrath, you may as well kill yourself like Othello since never again can you trust another soul. And if you can’t trust another soul, what’s the point of living?

A Desdemona by Kelly Reilly, who surely is the lightest, the most elegant creature on Earth…She prepares for her imminent death with scared vulnerability and willing determination in equal measure…a wrongful death, no doubt, but one she seems to expect and accept…To love someone with that degree of surrender…even when the object of your love is also your executioner?...I don’t think I’ll ever understand it enough to feel it myself but it does look beautiful.

There are many others…
The beautiful Casio…
The fool blinded by love, Rodrigo…
The Senor, Desdemona’s father, who is worthy of respect through his age not through his weapons – even if he needs to be reminded of this by Othello…

Bribe, steal, do whatever you can and get yourself to Donmar…if you miss it there, go and see it when it moves elsewhere…surely it must continue beyond its current run…In a larger venue and with different cast, it may not be the experience I’ve had on 21 December 2007 which would be a pity for you…but let me end by thanking A for letting me have her spare ticket and an evening I’ll never forget.