Othello
William Shakespeare
Theatre Royal, Bath, 7-8 March

The strength of this Concentric Circles production - and strong it is - must be in the way all the elements of theatre drama conspire to give us access to Shakespeare's beautiful play; the beauty of its language, the depth of exploration in character, emotions and human vulnerability.
Iago is the driver of this plot about plotting. His profound hatred of Othello and his precise insights into how people tick give him the kind of power where a few words and tricks on the unwary, the innocent and the trusting bring worlds crashing down and his tortured victims to murder.
Christopher Middleton is mesmeric as the demonic Ensign Iago. He is everybody's right-hand man and is known universally as 'honest Iago', but we soon learn that when he stands behind someone and talks in their ear, he is sowing his lethal seeds. When at the front at the stage with his face underlit, this tall, plain-looking but powerful man speaks words that, although simply spoken, make your skin crawl.
As Othello the Moor, Ricky Fearon has a presence that ranges from still dignity at first to towering and tortured rages as his misplaced belief in his wife's infidelity takes hold. Mandana Jones plays his loving and faithful wife Desdemona with a youthful femininity that shivers into fear and despair with her bewilderment at her husband's sudden and inexplicable violence.
The setting is modern-day, as is the dress. I have to confess to a moment's discomfort when any modern approach to Shakespeare means that people in contemporary dress say words like 'Go forth!' and 'He hath achieved...' But it's only a moment, and the approach works like a charm.
The sets and lighting contribute to the production's marvellous clarity, and are conceived in such a way that, coupled with Christopher Fettes' stage direction, the action can happen completely seamlessly. Against neutral sandy yellow and dusky grey, deftly used lighting enhances the heightening emotions as the tragedy proceeds: an icy green on Desdemona as she becomes downright scared and a blood rent tint on the bed and its drapes as Othello dies.
One measure of the success of any production of 'Othello' is arguably the atmosphere in the theatre at the dark point where Othello murders Desdemona.
It was one of bated breath.

Faith Tait