Othello

I believe it was Laurence Olivier who theorized that William Shakespeare and his lead actor Richard Burbage were bending elbows one night when Burbage drunkenly taunted, "I can play any role you can write." And Shakespeare said, "Oh yeah?" and wrote Othello.

The play is indeed entitled "Othello," but the focus is almost always stolen by the villain. Bob Hoskins here is a brilliant Iago, character motivations for once crystal clear, his accent emphasizing class conflict, his ready laughter only occasionally too much. You will not find a better Iago anywhere.

We know that James Earl Jones was the first choice to star in this production, and that British Equity threatened to close down not just the one show but the whole BBC Shakespeare series if a single non-British actor was hired.

However, when James Earl Jones played Othello on Broadway, it was common wisdom that Christopher Plummer's Iago stole the show from him. So we shouldn't fantasize too much that Jones's presence here might have changed everything.

Anthony Hopkins begins as a very confident character. However it is not possible to believe his backstory, that recitation of bravery and romance that wins Desdemona's heart. Hopkins doesn't look like a general, just like an earnest actor trying to solve problems. He hits a sweet spot just after Iago's first insinuations, when Desdemona appears and charms him all over again. After that, the performance goes downhill, and some of his choices undermine the later scenes.

Is it miscasting, or just a play where the gargantuan scale of emotions defies reduction to television scale? The Welles and Olivier productions were designed for large screens, not a small one.

The much-loved Penelope Wilton here is the most "English" Desdemona I've ever seen. She does everything right, but there's nothing remotely Mediterranean about this daughter of Venice. Rosemary Leach gives the performance of her career as Emilia, honest and vigorous without a cliché in sight. The rest of the cast is excellent, with an overall energy level higher than the norm in this series.

Jonathan Miller's direction concentrates on the domestic side of the drama, downplaying the public aspects, and bringing his background as a neurologist to the various varieties of mental illness on display. The visuals are once again Old Masters, with some lovely Georges de la Tour effects over candle-lit dinner.

However the dramatic heights are not successfully stormed. If you want to see Othello with the thunder Shakespeare implied, go instead to Verdi's opera "Otello," which concentrates on the core of the conflict and distills sheer dynamite. Placido Domingo can be fairly stolid and workmanlike in the part, so I'd recommend you track down a black and white Italian TV production starring Mario del Monaco for maximum impact. Here is the heroic "punch in the stomach" Othello you've always dreamed about.

While I agree with a lot of the other reviewers that Anthony Hopkins is a fairly disappointing Othello, Bob Hoskins as Iago is nothing short of spectacular. In every scene he's funny, charismatic, and terrifyingly evil, all at the same time. Iago is a man you can't help but admire, always in control and supremely confident in his abilities even when those around him just see a lovable underling. In the final scenes when the mask is off he becomes even more effective, his glaring hatred seeming to shoot out of his eyes like a deadly laser beam. This is Shakespeare's most evil villain, and the most unconquerable and undefeated. ("I bleed, sir. But not killed!")

Meanwhile poor Hopkins is struggling to seem menacing, but his chubby body and pale complexion make him look more ridiculous than anything else. He has a cultured voice and reads the lines beautifully, but whenever he has to show passion or emotion he just starts shouting and waving his arms wildly, looking more like the Wolf Man than the Moor of Venice. It doesn't help matters that the lady playing Desdemona is more of a stately spinster than nubile ingenue. Personally, I always pictured Audrey Hepburn as the ultimate Desdemona!

One final note: I've never heard of Anthony Pedley, but I really loved how he played poor Rodrigo, a guy who just never has a chance. This is the one character closest to real life, and he's never just a clown even in his most helpless moments. I love how he dies, denouncing Iago and seeing the truth at last.

Poor Othello, but still a great cast and a great play!

This is an impressive and unrelievedly grim production that omits most of the light-hearted bits of Shakespeare's play -- light-hearted bits that are few and brief in any event.

Because the acting by Penelope Wilton is so excellent, we forget that she is not quite young enough and not quite attractive enough to be fully suitable for the role of Desdemona. Wilton vividly conveys the bewilderment and desolation that Desdemona experiences as her beloved husband turns against her.

Bob Hoskins is superb as Iago. He could have reined in his giggling at times, especially in the first Act, but his delivery of his lines is impeccably well-judged. Precisely because Iago as played by Hoskins is highly likable on a superficial level, his merciless and devious psychopathy is truly chilling. Hoskins displays his skill as an actor when he adopts an upper-crust accent in his summoning of Brabantio and in his gloating over the supine Othello. He thereby signals one of the motivations behind Iago's crimes (without obscuring the fact that the crimes are driven partly by a love of evil for its own sake).

Particularly admirable is the ability of Hoskins to articulate his soliloquies in a manner whereby he appears to be addressing himself. Hoskins as Iago appears to be engaged in introspection rather than in recitation to an audience. In that respect, his performance clearly surpasses the performance of Derek Jacobi in the eponymous role in "Hamlet." Jacobi is always patently addressing an audience as he deliver Hamlet's intensely inward-looking soliloquies. Hoskins commendably avoids such a shortcoming.

Anthony Hopkins is not quite as successful in the role of Othello, but his performance is generally very good. He overacts rather irksomely at a few junctures, and he looks like a slightly pudgy actor rather than a rugged soldier. Nonetheless, he delivers most of his lines well. His slapping of Desdemona is jolting, and his final speech is both poignant and devastating.

Most of the supporting actors are fine. David Yelland is good in the difficult role of Cassio, and Anthony Pedley gives a splendid performance as the foppish Roderigo. Best of all is Rosemary Leach with a riveting performance as Emilia. (Because her performance is so good, however, it highlights one of the problematic features of Shakespeare's play: namely, the implausibility of the fact that Emilia waits until the end to disclose why Desdemona's handkerchief has gone missing.)

'Othello', regardless of any criticisms of considered implausibility (such as for some how easily Iago is believed by Othello and how long it takes for Emilia to come forward) and political incorrectness, is nonetheless one of my most fondly regarded Shakespeare plays. Not just the masterful language, with some of Shakespeare's most famous lines that have true intensity and poetic meaning, but also the dramatic conflict, both darkly intense and poignant, and one of his most interesting characters in the evil incarnate Iago (Othello too is one of his more interesting titular characters).

Anybody who has not seen or heard Verdi's opera 'Otello', one of his last but also one of his greatest, should definitely consider doing so. Actually like it even more than the play itself, with the dramatic conflict almost searing, especially in the relationship between Othello and Iago, and Iago is even more evil particularly in a big scene where he denounces God and everything. Enough of that, as that is not under review but more an interesting side-note (or at least an attempt at one). This production is a worthwhile one and anybody wanting to see as many Shakespeare productions available as possible should give it a go. As should those wanting to see every production of 'Othello' and the whole BBC Television Shakespeare series, featuring productions of all of his plays, some productions are better than others but they are all worth at least a one-time watch and the series overall is fascinating.

Personally do think that this 'Othello' is in the lower half of the series. Not because it is bad, far from it, don't consider any of the productions unwatchable. But it is more of a mix than other productions of the BBC Television Shakespeare series of things that were done very well and others that could have been done better, and was expecting more to it.

It's most of the cast that make this 'Othello' worth watching. Notably Bob Hoskins, whose Iago is a wonderfully uneasy mix of wickedly humorous and chillingly malevolent, even if the giggling did annoy a bit. Actually do think as well that his deceit is easy to buy with him appearing in public as someone who is good company, has a sense of humour and is seemingly truthful and then when alone and his intentions and plans are made clear (which the production makes crystal clear without being overt) one sees how much of a snake he really is. Rosemary Leach also stands out as a loyal but also at times shrewd Emilia. Penelope Wilton's Desdemona is poignant and noble, actually found myself not caring too awfully about her being too old. David Yelland and Anthony Pedley are strong as Cassio and Rodrigo.

Jonathan Miller directs tastefully and carefully, with a nice job done bringing out the character traits and the character relationships. Othello and Iago's is crucial to work and mostly it's dynamite, though Hoskins deserves much of the credit for this. He does do well at times in building upon the play's strengths, there are intense moments and the latter stages of the last act are movingly handled. Desdemona and Emilia's is also very well done, as is Iago's dominance over Rodrigo. Shakespeare's prose flows beautifully and equally as much in the delivery. The interiors are quite nice if simple, and the same goes for the camera work.

However, did find Anthony Hopkins' Othello inconsistent. At times he is very good, particularly good was his final speech which was very powerful. He also works very well in his scenes with Hoskins, until he becomes convinced of the unfaithfulness and that's when the hamminess becomes more apparent. The more passionate, raging scenes didn't convince as much, found him too histrionic and verging on insanity. That's why his later moments with Desdemona don't work, where everything else going on and how it was done feeling subdued in comparison. Miller does do well in enough aspects of the staging, but there were times where it felt like he was too careful and safe, the penultimate act for example when the tension should increasingly build could have done with more of that tension and more of it building. Some scenes lack oomph and, while it is laudable that the play was treated with respect, Miller could have afforded to take more risks and do things new.

The BBC Television Shakespeare series' budgets were not high and one does see in more productions than others obvious limitations. 'Othello' to me is one of the more particularly under-budgeted productions. There is a drab look, the lighting is sometimes too dark, other productions in the series did better at showing authenticity and the costumes and make-up are at best uninspired. Othello's looked both bizarre and ugly.

On the whole, to be seen mainly for 'Othello' and Shakespeare completests, and there are a good deal of impressive things, but uneven. 6/10

Over the years, while admiring the craftsmanship inherent in "Othello," I had always been bothered by one question. I'd studied the play in school, of course (seems to have been mandatory in my day), and I'd seen the usual versions (Orson Welles, Laurence Olivier, etc.), yet always this one nagging question kept gnawing at me, kept me from fully appreciating this play . ..

How in hell could Othello ever let himself be taken in by so obvious a viper as Iago?

Enter the BBC with its production of "William Shakespeare's Othello," with a particularly brilliant bit of casting: Bob Hoskins as Iago. Roly-poly, giggling, everybody's friend and more than a bit of a buffoon, to boot -- until, that is, he's by himself and you suddenly understand the true nature of evil.

And suddenly, I gained a true appreciation of the play. Simply because some casting director stretched himself (or herself) beyond the tried-and-true glowering serpentine approaches (a la Frank Finlayson in the Olivier production, etc.) which had been the norm.

It also helps, of course, that Hoskins is one truly fine actor.