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othellomacbeth
Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith
TAKING on any of Shakespeare’s tragedies is a big task and taking on two of them at the same time is positively Herculean.
But here director Jude Christian takes Shakespeare’s Othello and his Macbeth, cuts them mercilessly, and then stitches them together again. Her production starts with a pacey Othello which has shed Iago’s soliloquies, leaving us blind to his complicated motives and leaving us instead with a ruthlessly effective manipulator whose rage bubbles just below the surface.
What those cuts interestingly bring into focus is the misogyny of Iago (Samuel Collins), Othello (Ery Nzaramba) and Cassio (Sandy Grierson). And Christian’s decision to keep Bianca (Kezrena James) onstage during the story’s murderous climax ties her victimhood together with that of Emilia (Melissa Johns) and Desdemona (Kirsten Foster).
That bond between the women propels us from Othello into Macbeth. As the murdered Emilia and Desdemona rise up to join Bianca and transform into the Weird Sisters, they are no longer simply victims. This rebirth opens up the possibility of vengeance.
As with Othello, this is a truncated version of the play, but here Macbeth’s soliloquies survive and, aided by the visual signals from Basia Binkowska’s wonderful set, we move from the action-orientated narrative of Othello into the ambition, fear and madness in the minds of Macbeth (Sandy Grierson) and Lady Macbeth (Caroline Faber).
Yet, apart from Melissa John’s righteous Lady Macduff, the engagement with the idea of women as the victims of men rather slips from view.
Despite the textual cuts, the performers provide an engaging texture and depth in their characterisations, with Nzaramba as Othello quietly charismatic and then powerful in his twitching rage and his heartfelt sorrow, while James gives Bianca a rare depth.
The juxtaposition of these two plays produces some effective synergies, highlighted by transposed lines and cross-casting and Christian’s implicit suggestion that women in both plays function as objects in the games men play with each other who can be discarded when necessary is a telling one.
But the ruthlessness of some of the cuts means that we often have to rely on foreknowledge of Othello and Macbeth to fully appreciate the directorial intent.
Runs until November 3, box office: lyric.co.uk.
