Review by l_rawjalaurence

Set in a contemporary war-torn world of Cyprus, Nicholas Hytner's stage production has the principal actors as members of an army platoon; lost for something to do during a period of phony war, they end up trying to exploit one another. Iago (Rory Kinnear) is a schemer, someone highly jealous of Othello - especially when Othello receives promotion above him. Othello (Adrian Lester) is a competent soldier driven mad by jealousy - to such an extent that he has almost become insane by the end of the play. With a large supporting company dressed in sweat-soaked uniforms, Hytner's production vividly dramatizes the sheer boredom and claustrophobia involved as Othello's squadron is confined to barracks with nothing to do except exploit one another. However the production on film remains curiously flat: the verse-speaking is monotonous, to such an extent that viewers are longing for the three-hour production to end. More damagingly, this production largely neglects the race issue; in his concern to reinforce the contemporary parallels of Shakespeare's play, Hytner overlooks the fact that Iago's jealousy of Othello is more racially than personally inspired. This OTHELLO is worth a look, to be sure, but not really memorable.