By William Shakespeare
Directed by Tom Morris
Music by PJ Harvey
Designed by Ti Green
Theatre Royal Haymarket, 2025-2026
NT Live Broadcast 4th March 2026
Poole Lighthouse
CAST
David Harewood-Othello
Toby Jones – Iago
Caitlin Fitzgerald – Desdemona
Vinette Robinson – Emilia
Luke Treadaway – Cassio
David Ahmad- Gratiano
Gethin Alderman – Nicos
Ewan Black – Montano
Tom Byrne- Roderigo
Jonanthan Cobb- Telemachus
Peter Guinness- Brabantio
Felix Hayes – Duke of Venice
Jasmin Hinds – Julio / Julia
Wela Mbusi- Memet / Marcus
Jude Owusu- Lodovico
Tom Peters – Vincenzio
Rose Riley – Bianca
The Theatre Royal Haymarket is getting seriously interesting as a venue. We would have seen this but increasing London accommodation, travel and theatre prices are becoming an issue. We saw several of the less enthusiastic reviews. In fact, three star reviews were the majority. We should have ignored Arifa Akbar’s three star Guardian review where she points out that The racist language is still jarring, all the more so perhaps because Tom Morris’s production is modern-dress. While I’m sorry she was jarred, it is a pretty dumb comment about Othello (original title The Moor of Venice), and she should really avoid Shakespeare’s other Venetian play. The three star consensus put us off. Having seen NT Live, we are sorry that they did.
The modern dress is very well done – instead of raiding the props store for another set of army surplus uniforms, the design has created a uniform that is unique to the production. The other costumes blaze out. Scarlet for the senators of Venice, green for Desdemona, strong bright blue for Othello at the beginning. It’s harder to see in the production photos, but Iago’s uniform is light brown. The senior officer like Othello and Casio have white uniforms. As I’ve criticized Ms Akbar above, I will quote her point on the set:
The opening scene comes with a series of grand gold frames, set against blackness all around so that it looks like characters are errant historical figures that have jumped out of their gilt-edged oil paintings, into the now. It turns modern, with diaphanous screens that gesture at doorways and corners, for whispering, spying and eavesdropping.
It’s West End, so a star cast is therefore a given. David Harewood is a rare visitor to the London stage since he played Othello thirty years ago. Both Toby Jones and Caitlin Fitzgerald are names that put bums on seats.
The first comment is that it is crystal clear delivery and diction from all. The language is alive and transparent. It’s one of the clearest Shakespeare productions in those terms that I have seen in years. The close ups help.
Our instant summary walking to the car, both of us thought David Harewood the best Othello we have seen. As with all the characters the camera reveals close ups and facial reactions which I doubt you picked up in the rear rows of the theatre. Sometimes filmed plays irritate because you have to watch the editor’s selection, and miss the big picture. However, this Othello is so focussed on the major character interactions, so that the closer the camera goes the better.
It is normal for me to say that the actor playing Iago yet again outshines Othello. I first said that with Frank Finlay and Laurence Olivier back in 1965. (Then I thought Olivier’s Othello ludicrous over-acting). This time Othello holds his own with Iago.
Toby Jones plays a straightforward villain. There is no other side to him at all. Again the close up speaking to camera enhances the way the role confides his plans and ambitions to the audience. He is seething with jealously from the opening moment where he is observing Othello and Desdemona all over each other. Their displays of affection are very public, ignoring bystanders. This is often embarrassing for those watching the couple.
This Iago reveals hatred of Othello right away, but you get the sense this not because he’s black, but because Othello and Desdemona are both tall with movie star good looks and look as if they’re getting a lot of sexual action. Toby Jones’ stature helps. He has made a good living from it, he is one of our finest actors, but he knows that he is very short, and no oil painting. Then he is overlooked in the role of lieutenant, which has gone to Cassio. A useful prop is the (velcro) lieutenant badge with stars which can be confiscated from Cassio, fondled by Othello, awarded to Iago.
A thought is that maybe he is a tad too oily and wicked. It undermines Othello’s trust and belief. I was checking the intro to the 1955 Folio Society edition:
Both (Othello and Iago) have one thing in common, the mixture of hidden diabolism with the outward look of a good fellow. If there is too much of the latter in Iago, he may so convince us of his honesty that we could never believe that he would turn to villainy or to cruelty unparalleled. On the other hand, an Iago seeming crafty at all times would never have held his place with the Moor or been so recklessly believed by him.
Ivor Brown, 1955
A program note on another fine production the 2013 National Theatre “Gulf War” one, was explaining the trust comrades in action have to have in each other. People who’ve fought and faced death together for years are used to relying on each other. Credulity is stretched a little on Othello believing this conniving toad, but then David Harewood does the transitions with such power. This production has decided to let the audience in on the total villainy from the outset. The outright villain offends some, but when done this well, we were happy to go with it.
Caitlin’s Fitzgerald is a willowy tall blonde, a total physical contrast to Harwood’s Othello. The early joyful touchy-feely relationship between them predicts the fall. But this is not a Desdemona who dies easily. She fights back.
Then Vinette Robinson as Emilia focusses on women really fighting back against male violence.
Iago works because the style is that all the characters are writ large. Tom Byrne’s Rodrigo is a delightfully cowardly fop.
Luke Treadaway’s Cassio is credulous to the point of comedy. They make rather less of the drunken party carousing than other productions (introducing a dance is popular) and keep it in the background.
Felix Hayes’ Duke towers physically over all. Peter Guinness’s Brabantio is wildly distraught. They are both excellent and I remember an actor of my age saying he loved plays where he got killed early, or was out of the plot after Act One. You can spend the rest of the play in the dressing room doing the Guardian crossword while you wait for the curtain call. Even better when it’s two actors.
Ludovico, played by Jude Owusu, is a cleric in this. I tend towards having no other BAME actors in Othello, because it dilutes the otherness of the role, and the racist reaction in some lines gets diluted, and that is usually part of the play. Much less so here, and Ludovico is sympathetic to Othello at the start in the Senate meeting. It worked.
The fluid movement between scenes is another highlight. One character is barely leaving, when the next scene rolls on and takes over.
The whole is two and a half hours. It can run to three hours plus without cuts. It was well cut, and unlike the 2013 National, they had fewer scenes with lots of people on stage.
P.J. Harvey’s music is quietly subtle. I assume the theme Willow sung unaccompanied by Desdemona and Emilia is her tune.
They re-order the ending, to excellent effect. I’ll try not to plot spoil. Shakespeare was fond of his characters stabbing themselves. As Chekhov and Ibsen showed, loud firearms can be more effective. The pistols of Shakespeare’s day would have suffered from unreliability and the issue of powder burns. The revised end is more dramatic.
OVERALL *****
That is an assessment of the NT live filmed version, and is one star better than the three quoted positive reviews. This is a case where the filming so enhances the production that it adds a star.
WHAT THE CRITICS SAID
four star
Domenic Cavendisah, The Telegraph ****
Patrick Marmion, Daily Mail ****
Fiona Mountford, The i ****
three star
Arifa Akbar, The Guardian ***
Clive Davis, The Times ***
Nick Curtis, The Standard ***
Alice Savile, The Independent ***
Andrej Lukowski, Time Out ***
Tim Bano, Financial Times ***
Dave Fargnoli, The Stage ***
two star
Sarah Crompton, What’s On Stage **
LINKS ON THIS BLOG
OTHELLO
Othello – NT 2013
Othello – RSC 2015
Othello – Wanamaker Playhouse, 2017
Othello – Globe 2018
Othello, ETT – 2018
Othello, Watermill, 2022
Othello, RSC 2024
Othello, Theatre Royal Haymarket / NT Live 2026
TOM MORRIS
Dr Semmelweis, NT 2023
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Handspring 2013
TOBY JONES
Mr Burton (film)
The English (TV Series)
Uncle Vanya
The Birthday Party by Harold Pinter, 2018
Dad’s Army, 2016 (FILM)
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (FILM) (2011)
CAITLIN FITZGERALD
The Trial of the Chicago 7 (film)
VINETTE ROBINSON
Boiling Point (film)
Albion, by Mike Bartlett, Almeida 2017
Hamlet, Young Vic 2011 (Ophelia)
TOM BYRNE
Twelfth Night, RSC 2017
Echo’s End by Barney Norris, Salisbury 2017
PETER GUINNESS
Much Ado About Nothing, Rose Kingston 2018
FELIX HAYES
The Tempest, RSC 2012 (Trinculo)
Twelfth Night, RSC 2012 (Fabian)
Comedy of Errors, RSC 2012 (Dromio of Ephesus)
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, RSC 2011 (Snug)
The City Madam, RSC 2011 (Mr Plenty)
Cardenio, RSC 2011 (Shepherd)
Vice Versa, RSC 2017 (General Braggadacio)
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