Review by Gemma Miller, PhD Candidate, English

Trevor Nunn’s 1990 Othello was one of the first television Shakespeare films I saw, and it was a rare treat to re-visit it in the shared-audience environment of the Barbican cinema. The setting - a vague cross between American Civil War and Edwardian colonial outpost - is strongly militaristic, but the overall aesthetic is naturalist rather than filmic of theatrical. It was shot in a studio and location is hinted at rather than explicitly drawn. A soundscape of cicadas evokes the Mediterranean heat of Cyprus, while the intermittent call of bugles gives it a garrison feel. The central focus of this film, however, is the actors, and the close-shots capture each glance, gesture, and facial expression of the four central characters.

Willard White, who played Othello, introduced this historic screening. Nunn took a risk casting White, a Jamaican-born British opera singer who was used to performing to the vast audiences of the London Coliseum rather than the close audience-actor space of the RSC’s smallest theatre. However, far from being a hindrance, his lack of experience actually proves to be an asset in portraying one of Shakespeare’s most alienated characters. His sonorous bass-baritone voice, while lacking the verbal dexterity of McKellen’s, gives Othello’s highly-patterned speeches a heightened sense of the exotic, while his imposing physical presence benefits from the translation from small screen to cinema.

Although there are fine performances from Zoe Wanamaker as Emilia and Imogen Stubbs as Ophelia, it is Mckellen’s Iago who provides the most memorable moments. His breathtaking capacity for juggling intricate stage business with razor-sharp verbal clarity and the most subtle of facial expressions makes for a menacing yet tortured portrayal of Shakespeare’s most enigmatic villain. He is the only character who soliloquises at length, drawing the audience into his thoughts while simultaneously confusing and baffling with an array of contradictory motives and explanations. However, rather than portraying what Coleridge famously called ‘motiveless malignity’, McAllen's superabundance of motives all seem plausible in the mouth of this oh-so-convincing ‘honest, honest Iago’.

As he stands at the foot of the bed loaded with the bodies of Emilia, Desdemona and Othello, his face is inscrutable. However, you can sense the vast array of thoughts and emotions simmering beneath the surface. Without seeming to move a muscle, he gives the impression of a mind boggling at what he has achieved. Although this is not a short film - it runs for well over 3 hours - it is certainly worth the effort, if only for the pleasure of Mckellen’s mesmerising performance. Re-visiting the film at the Barbican’s cinema on a snowy afternoon in January merely confirmed that his performance will deservedly continue to rank among the great Iagos of all time.

Links: https://www.rsc.org.uk/press/releases/rsc-at-the-barbican

http://www.mckellen.com/stage/othello/