OTHELLO, Shakespeare, Leicester till 23 November

OTHELLO: William Shakespeare
Leicester Haymarket Studio: Tkts 0116 253 9797
Runs: 1h 45m, no interval, till 23 November
Eves: 7.45
Review: Rod Dungate, 16 November 2002

Challenging and an important contribution to a serious debate: occasionally falls victim to directionOne of Othello's final lines reverberates around the Haymarket studio in Iqbal Khan's Asian emphasis production – 'For nought did I in hate, but all in honour.' The wheel has come full circle from the opening where the young people, relating the nature of Othello's wooing of Desdemona send up their elders and by implication their elders' values. Khan's production challenges us all in different ways, for Othello, in his Black/Asian marriage seems to be heralding a new dawn, but old pressures work against him, ultimately destroying the loving young couple.

Khan's shortened version is a valuable contribution to an important debate and when it works, it works very well indeed, a quality marred occasionally by some perverse direction (particularly in placing some scenes where large sections of the audience can't see what's going on.)

Ricky Fearon makes a fine Othello. Young, handsome, it's easy to see how he swept the young Desdemona off her feet with his tales of travel and macho bravery. But this Othello is a quiet man, you sense keenly the tender man beneath the exterior (particularly effective in the small studio space.) Fearon reaches heights of passion, but his quiet nature asserts itself once more as he calmly, ritualistically prepares himself for the murder of his wife. His confusion, incomprehension of the turn of events at the conclusion are heartbreaking.

Parvez Qadir's Iago is a suitably nasty piece of work. He has not yet, though, sufficient mastery of the language and in many of his passionate moments is demonstrating his emotions with the text rather than supporting the text with his emotions. When he relaxes, particularly in many of his scenes with Othello, this problem disappears and there is a real spark between them.

The final scene between Desdemona (Koel Purie) and Emilia (Paula Jennings) is a lovely high-spot of the production – the affection between the two women clear, the sense of foreboding tangible. However, Khan breaks the spell: Jennings leaves Desdemona and speaks her lines out front 'Let husbands know . . .' What a pity.

Othello: Ricky Fearon
Iago: Parvez Qadir
Desdemona: Koel Purie
Cassio: Gurpreet Singh
Emilia: Paula Jennings
with
Roopesh Parekh
Aziz Ghanchi

Director: Iqbal Khan
Designer: Kate Unwin
Lighting: Ciaran Bagnall
Music Director: Robert Painter
Fights: Renny Krupinski

2002-11-17 19:49:38