This is a play frequently seen in gladiatorial terms: a ferocious histrionic contest in which Othello fights for supremacy with Iago. But this is not the way of Declan Donnellan, whose Cheek by Jowl production is democratic while allowing scope for much fine acting.
As his wont, Donnellan brings the whole cast on stage from the start: as Iago picks out key characters, so the focus shifts to them. And, as the evening progresses, the ensemble approach pays increasingly rich dividends. It is intriguing to note that when Brabantio accusingly says: "This is the man", the Duke of Venice immediately assumes that Cassio is Desdemona's abductor.
And, by keeping major figures on stage virtually throughout, Donnellan makes us aware of strange parallels: Desdemona and Emilia, for instance, are seen less as temperamental opposites than as kindred, loving spirits who end up murdered by their soldier husbands.
But, although Donnellan treats Othello as a play rather than a theatrical bullfight, one still looks for sizeable performances; and can only express astonishment at the 25-year-old Nonso Anozie's capacity to encompass so much of the Moor. Anozie has weight, presence, implicit valour and a bridegroom's proper urgency: in Venice he seizes Desdemona rapturously to snatch "an hour of love".
And it is the depth of his passion that makes his later disillusion so terrifying. Anozie proves Coleridge's point that Othello is destroyed not by jealousy but by the agonised belief that his angelic bride is impure.
In this context Jonny Phillips' Iago emerges as a master-manipulator: almost a quasi-authorial figure who conjures characters and situations to life.
But in Donnellan's production there is as much emphasis on Caroline Martin's impetuously loving Desdemona and Jaye Griffith's shrewdly cynical Emilia as on the male protagonists. We even get a glimpse of Cassio as a closet masochist who enjoys being whipped by Bianca with a handkerchief. This is a production that combines psychological detail with narrative clarity acted out, as it is, on a stage occupied by nothing more than five caskets. As always with this company, the play's gloriously the thing.
· Until December 4. Box office: 020-8237 1111
