CENTRE STAGE
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FRESH out of drama school, Victor Oshin gave an assured performance as the Moor of Venice in Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello.
The imposing young actor more than earned his place beside more experienced colleagues in a first-rate production.
Fiercely contemporary, addressing issues of racism, abuse and attitudes towards women, the production by the English Touring Company, in partnership with Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory and the Oxford Playhouse, thoroughly deserved the whoops and cheers at the curtain call.
Victor’s performance illustrated a man excelling as a triumphant army general, taking on the threat of invading Turks in Cyprus while beset on all sides with doubt as conspirators bring his world crashing down around him.
He starts as a young man in love with life – and with Desdemona, who he marries in a solemn Islamic wedding ceremony in the first scene, before sweeping her up in his arms in delight and twirling her round the room.
His new wife can do no wrong – until his faithless and jealous ensign Iago sows malicious seeds of doubt, leading to the unthinkable as Othello takes it upon himself to hand out the cruellest retribution for a crime that never existed.
At first Kitty Archer portrays the innocent heroine as a carefree, confident young girl, so secure in her love for Othello she dances rings around the smitten Moor.
But as the enemy conspires against her, she becomes the focus of domestic abuse as Othello cannot contain his jealous rage at her alleged infidelity.
Kelly Price gives an outstanding performance as Emilia, Desdemona’s maidservant and Iago’s unsuspecting wife, and her final speech protesting her murdered mistress’s innocence brought tears to the eyes.
Iago was played superbly by Paul Mcewan as a shuffling yet cocksure villain, complete in his hatred of Othello and unflinchingly certain of his actions even as they rained death and misery upon everything and everyone.
At a touch shy of three hours, director Richard Twyman had cut down the play to make it accessible to a young audience and the time flashed by.
And with a stark set designed by Georgia Lowe to resemble a nightclub, the deck of a ship and, at the end, a cage trapping Othello inside both physically and mentally, this is a production aimed at appealing to all ages.