Relocating the play from 16th century Venice to a rundown Yorkshire housing estate in a post-industrial town, this Othello is just 110 minutes long instead of pushing three hours, and is set around a pool table in the pub.
Radical theatre company Frantic Assembly is at Liverpool Playhouse (October 4-8) with its reimagining of Shakespeare’s tragedy as a heart-stopping thriller. It can also be seen at York Theatre Royal this week (October 18-22) and The Lowry, Salford (November 15-19).
Originally presented to acclaim in 2008 and 2014, this updated version - now a co-production with Curve Theatre in Leicester - takes Shakespeare’s text and combines it with trademark physicality, presenting an Othello rooted in a volatile world of broken glass and broken promises, poisonous manipulation and explosive violence.
Playing Othello is Michael Akinsulire (Trigger Point, Stephen) with Joe Layton (Young Wallander on Netflix) as Iago and Chanel Waddock (Rock, Paper, Scissors, Sheffield Crucible, Hamlet, National Theatre) as Desdemona.
Frantic Assembly co-founder and artistic director Scott Graham said: “It's wonderful to be able to take our work back out on tour, to connect and demonstrate the talent of this brilliant cast within a story that feels as urgent and thrilling as ever."
More info and tickets here