Some say this is Othello as you’ve never seen it before. In fact, it reminded me both of a 60s rock version, Catch My Soul, and – in its grotty urban realism – of the National Theatre’s recent revival. But to be fair, this Frantic Assembly production predates the National’s, since it was first seen in 2008, and it possesses a pounding choreography that is the company’s trademark.
Set in a West Yorkshire pub called the Cypress, the show starts with an exhilarating 10-minute dance sequence that outlines the backstory of brawls, booze and sex in a way that rivals anything in West Side Story. After that, we settle into a shredded version of Shakespeare’s text that, however skilful, never quite matches the physical excitement of the opening. The idea, broadly, is that Othello is a powerful local gang leader who excites the racist inclinations of his treacherous sidekick, Iago.
Even if the story fits the context surprisingly well, it throws up some palpable oddities: it is hard to accept Othello’s vision of the “gentle” Desdemona when we’ve first seen her chewing the end of his pool cue, while the bookishly effete Cassio – “a great arithmetician” – is here a menacingly surly Scotsman.
But the best features of Scott Graham’s production are very good indeed. Laura Hopkins has created a brilliantly plausible pub set, with pool table, fruit machine and bendy walls that at one point accurately evoke Cassio’s drunken delirium. Mark Ebulue’s Othello has a muscularity and vocal power that suggests he deserves a crack at the full-scale title, while Steven Miller’s Iago is a convincing bundle of tracksuited paranoia and Kirsty Oswald lends Desdemona a knowing sexuality that is sufficient to fuel her husband’s jealousy. Even if a modern setting highlights the artifices of Shakespeare’s plot, it’s a bracing, coherent production worth seeing for that astonishing opening sequence alone.
• Until 7 February. Box office: 020-8741 6850. Venue: Lyric Hammersmith, London.
.jpg?w=600)
