Othello (2013)

As I’ve said, since I signed up for National Theatre at Home, not all the plays I’ve watched have been winners, at least not for me. Certainly, they’ve all been well-made and well-performed, but that doesn’t mean they’ve all held my interest. That’s the beauty of a streaming service, though, as opposed to paying $20 for an individual ticket and driving 60 miles to see it in a movie theater on a very particular Tuesday night – you can try a much wider variety of different plays, and if not all of them strike your fancy, so what? Sure, there will be some that are just all right, but there are also going to be plenty of gems.

Othello, a Black moor who’s risen from slavery to become a general in the Venetian military, becomes the target of an insidious plot. His ensign Iago, spurned for a promotion, schemes to unravel Othello’s life thread by thread. The plan has many facets, but they all revolve around a central goal: convince Othello that Desdemona, his new young (white) wife, is having an affair with Iago’s rival Cassio.

As far as Shakespeare goes, Othello is a special play for me. Aside from obviously being one of his most well known, it’s also one of the first that I ever read, and it’s fortunate enough to have multiple strong adaptations of it (the Laurence Fishburne/Kenneth Branagh film is great and served as my introduction to Branagh as a Shakespearean actor-director, and I also love the Chiwetel Ejiofor/Ewan McGregor audioplay that was recorded after they performed onstage together in London.) This production filmed for National Theatre Live is another knockout.

Modern costumes and sets, both of which create a sense of place in an understated manner, not drawing any attention away from the actors. Jonathan Bailey is a good Cassio, who’s in many ways the anti-Iago – upstanding and mostly guileless, effortlessly charming but prone to flailing when he’s caught on the wrong foot. I knew I recognized Bailey from something, and I discovered from IMDb that it was “Time Heist” from series 8 of new Who (IMDb also informs me that he’s on Bridgerton, which I know many people love.) Olivia Vinall plays Desdemona, carefully portraying the sanguine, naively romantic sides of her without letting her become insubstantial. I’ve seen Vinall in a National Theatre Live production before, playing the lead in Tom Stoppard’s The Hard Problem. I’ve always loved Emilia as a character, and although I’m not familiar with Lyndsey Marshal, she great in the role, worldly and jaded but protectively devoted. Rory Kinnear, who I remember from the Masterpiece miniseries of The Mystery of Edwin Drood, is a good Iago. He’s gruff and frank, but you still see why he’s able to fool so many people for so long (just don’t play a drinking game for every time someone in the play calls Iago “honest” – you won’t survive.)

The headline, though, is Adrian Lester’s powerhouse performance as Othello. It can be frustrating to watch tragedies, because the characters are so engaging but you know they won’t get through it intact, and so you rail against the fatal mistakes you know they’re going to make. But in Lester’s immensely-capable hands, it’s fascinating to watch Othello’s downfall. From the quiet, dignified confidence of his first appearance, to his easy rapport and authority with his soldiers, to the brush-away denials that grow into seeds of doubt, to the wrenching ending, you can’t take your eyes off of him. I’ve loved Lester ever since I saw him as Oliver in the Branagh-directed As You Like It, and he’s spellbinding here. He’s one of those actors with a particular gift for speaking Shakespeare’s words in such a way that make them clearly comprehensible and genuine-sounding, while still bringing out the poetry and depth. It’s a gift to watch him perform, and as heavy as it is to follow him all the way to the end, the journey he takes to get there is worth every minute.

Warnings

Violence (including intimate partner violence,) sexual references, language (including racist and sexist insults,) drinking, and strong thematic elements.