This dynamic but coarse-grained production from Frantic Assembly relocates Shakespeare’s play to a spectacularly grim working-class pub. The text is pared back and augmented with interludes of muscular choreography – the company’s trademark – set to a thumping cinematic soundtrack by Hybrid.
Scott Graham’s production has a great sense of urgency and threat, some fine performances and a potent sexual tension between the leads. Michael Akinsulire’s Othello – quietly powerful at first, but barking his later lines – is built like a flint rockface. Chanel Waddock’s besotted Desdemona clearly thinks he’s worth the climb. She’s got an estuary accent full of glottal stops while her father seems to be Welsh. Hearing a variety of non-posh voices speaking the verse is refreshing.
