Theatre review: Othello (English Touring Theatre / Wilton's Music Hall)

Richard Twyman takes over as Artistic Director of ETT with a production of Othello whose stripped-back nature points to the restrictions of a touring production, but doesn't get in the way of atmosphere and dangerous intensity. Othello (Abraham Popoola) has wooed and married Desdemona (Norah Lopez Holden) in secret, and when her father finds out he tries to get the soldier punished. But it's clear Desdemonda acted entirely of her own volition and besides, despite being an outsider to Venice, he's one of their most effective generals, and is needed at a battle in Cyprus. So this plan to take down Othello fails, but its architect remains unsuspected: Iago (Mark Lockyer,) a trusted ensign overlooked for promotion, has developed a violent hatred of his general, and now comes up with a much more complicated and bloody plot, to convince Othello his new bride is cheating on him, and fan his jealousy into a murderous rage.

Theatre review: The Alchemist

After having a summer hit last year with Volpone, the RSC bring Ben Jonson back to the Swan with his most famous farce, The Alchemist. It was Jonson's way of helping the London of 1610 deal with its biggest horror, the annual return of the Plague, through comedy: Every summer the wealthy would escape the city for their country homes away from all the death, and so at the start of the play does Lovewit (Hywel Morgan,) leaving his servant Jeremy in charge of his townhouse. But Jeremy is actually the con-man Face, who plans to use the house as his base of operations to trick the greedy and gullible out of their cash. After he stole his scenes in her AsYou Like It last year, director Polly Findlay brings Ken Nwosu back to Stratford-upon-Avon with her to play a frenetic Face, who acts as the front-man for a con that promises to turn base metal into gold.