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Preview by Jack Foley
THE Royal Shakespeare Company’s acclaimed production of
Othello is to launch the new Trafalgar Studios,
in London’s West End, when it finishes its current run in
Stratford.
The production, held to mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s
tragedy, opened on February 18, at Stratford’s Swan Theatre,
and features two South African actors, one black and one white,
playing the leads of Othello and Iago for the first time in the
UK.
Its West End-run will be directed by Gregory Doran, who is currently
overseeing All’s Well That Ends Well at the Gielgud
Theatre, starring Dame Judi Dench.
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Playing the eponymous hero, is Sello Maake ka Ncube, while Anthony
Sher takes on Iago. They previously worked together with Doran
on Titus Andronicus, in 1995, at the Market Theatre. in
Johannesburg, South Africa.
They will be joined by Lisa Dillon, as Desdemona, as well as
Charles Abomeli, Barry Aird, Justin Avoth, Ken Bones, Peter Bramhill,
Vincent Brimble, Edward Clayton, Jonathan Duff, Mark Lockyer,
Paul O’Mahony, Clifford Rose, Nathalie Armin, Amanda Harris
and Viss Elliott.
The production of Othello will also mark the launch of
the new Trafalgar Studios, a 350-seat space carved from the existing
646-seat Whitehall Theatre.
The Whitehall was closed indefinitely last Summer, by its owner,
the Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG), and despite a brief revival
last year, has been dark ever since.
Planning permission has subsequently been approved to redesign
the theatre’s interior, to create the two new studio spaces,
the other being approximately 100 seats.
Following its London season, the production will then transfer
to Japan for a limited five-week tour.
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