Othello is Missing the Tragedy
Tom Morris’s staging of Othello at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, with David Harewood as the Moor and Toby Jones as Iago, dazzles the audience but loses sight of the play’s moral darkness. Shakespeare’s drama is, above all, a study of how good men can be undone when confronted by unfiltered evil. For such a story, the presence of genuine malice is essential — yet here it feels somewhat diluted.
The production’s design by Ti Green impresses. Arched frames hover above the stage, and translucent screens shimmer with strange projections that evoke Othello’s tormented psyche. The visual world is captivating; time dissolves as two hours and forty-five minutes move with remarkable clarity and speed. As sheer theatrical spectacle, the show is accomplished and graceful.
Toby Jones, adored nationwide for his portrayal in Mr Bates vs The Post Office, delivers a magnetic Iago. His sly confessions to the audience, in which he relishes the chaos he engineers, are wickedly funny. Watching him manipulate Othello into believing Desdemona’s infidelity and push him toward destruction is gripping theatre.
“What happens to decent, upstanding, moral people when an agent of pure wickedness is injected into their midst?”
Yet, despite the polish, the production softens the play’s tragedy. It invites sympathy not for the victims of deceit, but for the deceiver himself. In doing so, it blurs Shakespeare’s moral compass, leaving the evil not nearly evil enough.
Author’s Summary
Morris’s Othello enthralls visually and theatrically but weakens Shakespeare’s central theme of pure evil corrupting virtue.