Youknow to expect something innovative and amazing when at a Frantic Assembly production and their version of Othello is no exception. We entered the auditorium to loud drum and bass music and were thereby prepared for a street version of a play written 400 years ago.

Act 2, scene 3 Iago gets Cassio drunk, making it easy for Roderigo to provoke Cassio into a brawl, first with Roderigo, then with Montano, whom he wounds. Othello, called from his bed by the noise, stops the brawl and strips Cassio of his lieutenancy. Iago advises Cassio to seek Desdemona’s help in getting reinstated. The next step in Iago’s plan is to tell Othello that Desdemona supports Cassio because Cassio is her lover.Act 2, scene 1 The Turkish fleet is destroyed in a storm, while Cassio and then Desdemona, Emilia, and Iago arrive safely at Cyprus. Desdemona anxiously waits for Othello. When his ship arrives, he and Desdemona joyfully greet each other. Iago, putting his plot into action, persuades Roderigo that Desdemona is in love with Cassio and that Roderigo should help get Cassio dismissed from the lieutenancy. First staged in 2008—and subsequently revived in 2014—Frantic Assembly’s reimagining of Othello is a bold and visceral piece of work.

The title role of Othello was played by the talented Michael Akinsulire — whose portrayal of the protagonist captivated not only the audience but the cast surrounding him, as he recited his many monologues throughout the play. I will definitely be keeping my eye out for his future work as I can see more exciting and well-deserved opportunities coming his way. Michael Akinsulire as Othello Act 4, scene 2 Othello questions Emilia about Cassio and Desdemona’s relationship, acting as if Emilia is the mistress of a brothel and Desdemona one of her prostitutes. Othello denounces Desdemona to her face as a whore. Desdemona turns for help to Iago, who reassures her.Roderigo, protesting to Iago that his gifts to Desdemona have won him no favor from her, threatens to ask for the return of the gifts. Iago counters this threat by telling Roderigo that Desdemona will leave for Mauritania with Othello unless Roderigo can delay them. The best way to do this, says Iago, is by killing Cassio. Othello plays at the York Theatre Royal until Saturday 22 October when it continues its tour across England, finishing in early February 2023. Frantic Assembly are famous for their physical approach to theatre, and this is certainly the case with this production which is full of arrestingly staged sequences. During the opening minutes of the play, the relationships between the characters are brought to vibrant life through an intricately choreographed dumbshow which sees the performers propelling themselves around the stage. Not a word is spoken, but the world of the play is firmly established. Think Shameless or This Is England; a bar with a pool table and a slot machine; bottled beers; everyone off their heads or on a short fuse in high-street zip tops, trainers, hoodies, stretchy sportswear and joggers. One long Friday night, full of broken glass, jealousy, betrayal, revenge and the darkest intents; a darker brew of John Godber's Bouncers, where the booze meets the bruise.Other elements which contribute to the dynamism of the production include Hybrid’s propulsive dance music and powerful lighting from Natasha Chivers and Andy Purves.

Othello’s obsession with appearances is the reason why he is content to watch Cassio’s supposed confession, despite the fact that confessions are heard rather than seen. He also turns Lodovico’s letters—which announce that Othello has been replaced by Cassio as governor of Cyprus in the same manner in which he believes Cassio has replaced him in the bedroom—into “ocular proof” that he is being supplanted.In the first act of Othello, Cyprus is clearly not such a world; it is a territory of Venice, to which Othello and company are called as a matter of state. As soon as the Turkish threat has been eliminated, however, the characters seem to lose their connection to Venetian society, and, with its festivities and drunken revelry, Cyprus then seems to have more in common with the alien, pastoral worlds of many of Shakespeare’s comedies. Because Othello is all about the inner workings of the mind, the intimate Theatre Royal studio works perfectly for the York Shakespeare Project’s production. Act 1, scene 1 In the streets of Venice, Iago tells Roderigo of his hatred for Othello, who has given Cassio the lieutenancy that Iago wanted and has made Iago a mere ensign. At Iago’s suggestion, he and Roderigo, a former suitor to Desdemona, awake Desdemona’s father to tell him that Desdemona has eloped with Othello. This news enrages Brabantio, who organizes an armed band to search out Othello. Othello has recognized his handkerchief and, coming out of hiding when Cassio and Bianca are gone, wonders how he should murder his former lieutenant. Othello goes on to lament his hardheartedness and love for Desdemona, but Iago reminds him of his purpose. Othello has trouble reconciling his wife’s delicacy, class, beauty, and allure with her adulterous actions. He suggests that he will poison his wife, but Iago advises him to strangle her in the bed that she contaminated through her infidelity. Iago also promises to arrange Cassio’s death. Othello and Iago enter in mid-conversation. Iago goads Othello by arguing that it is no crime for a woman to be naked with a man, if nothing happens. Iago then remarks that if he were to give his wife a handkerchief, it would be hers to do as she wished with it. These persistent insinuations of Desdemona’s unfaithfulness work Othello into an incoherent frenzy. He focuses obsessively on the handkerchief and keeps pumping Iago for information about Cassio’s comments to Iago. Finally, Iago says that Cassio has told him he has lain with Desdemona, and Othello “[f]alls down in a trance” (IV.i. 41 stage direction).

So whatof Iago? This version of the text is his playground. Joe Layton is a vicious thug but he plays all the other characters with a sly, lightness of touch. His lies and subterfugeseem almost to cause the tragedy bydefault. Cyprus serves as a contrast to Venice, a place where the normal structures and laws governing civil society cease to operate. Such a world is common within Shakespeare’s plays, though far more prevalent in his comedies. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream and As You Like It, for example, the forest functions as an unstructured, malleable world in which the characters can transgress societal norms, work out their conflicts, and then return to society with no harm done.Michael Akinsulire excels as Othello, capturing the strength and charisma that makes the character so admired in the first half of the play, before collapsing into wide-eyed paranoia during the second. Also impressive is Joe Layton as Iago, who skilfully conveys the false jocularity that makes Shakespeare’s most cunning villain seem so trustworthy. I have seen some excellent productions of Othello in my time (the Sheffield Crucible production starring Clarke Peters and Dominic West from The Wire leaps to mind), but this is undoubtedly the most compelling version I have encountered. Iago crudely informs Brabantio, Desdemona’s father, that Othello and Desdemona have eloped. Before the Venetian Senate, Brabantio accuses Othello of bewitching Desdemona. The Senators wish to send Othello to Cyprus, which is under threat from Turkey. They bring Desdemona before them. She tells of her love for Othello, and the marriage stands. The Senate agrees to let her join Othello in Cyprus. Like Cyprus, Othello is half Venetian, half “other,” and his predicament is the result of forces that are half comedic mischief and half deep-rooted, essential evil. Perhaps as a way of embodying these two clashing worlds, the play continues to upset the audience’s relationship to time. Iago claims, “This is [Othello’s] second fit. He had one yesterday” (IV.i. 48). We have no basis on which to judge this claim, but if the play’s action does, in fact, span three days, then Othello’s first fit must have taken place before Iago even provoked his jealous rage.