Chefs will tell you that sometimes a dish just doesn’t work. It has nothing to do with the quality of ingredients, cooking time or amount of effort expended. You might have made your signature spag bol a hundred times before but you just have to accept that occasionally there will be an inexplicable malfunction in the alchemical process that turns it from ingredients into food. When this happens all you can do is chalk it up to experience and try not to be discouraged if you’ve made a quantity of it.
Quantity is not lacking in the RSC’s touring production of Othello, at the Hackney Empire this week. A full-strength cast combines with creative musicians (performing live to the side of the stage) to deliver every word of Shakespeare’s play and some additional songs and dances into the bargain. The set consists of two versatile, mobile arches which combine effectively to form the streets of Venice, ships and the garrison in Cyprus. Screens and fabric become storm, sea and Desdemona’s deathbed.
Much of Othello takes place in occupied Cyprus, a detail often overlooked in favour of concentrating on the racism in the play. Director Kathryn Hunter does well to conjure claustrophobic military life on a hot, dusty island: the lack of privacy helps Iago ensnare his general and provides another perspective on Othello’s descent into madness.
It is clear that a great deal of thought and expense has gone into this production and it starts well at a blistering pace. Unfortunately the initial promise soon peters out and the piece sags horribly in the middle. Patrice Naiambana’s performance, in the title role, is laboured and his delivery becomes increasingly cumbersome as the seemingly endless evening stretches on. It is 3 hours and 35 minutes you won’t get back: stay at home and do some cooking instead.
Othello will be touring the UK until March 2009. Upcoming venues include Northern Stage, Newcastle” Oxford Playhouse and Liverpool Playhouse.
