Green in NYT. Not a critic's pick. Praise for Gyllenhaal.
‘Othello’ Review: Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal Are Prey and Predator
Shakespeare’s leanest tragedy gets a starry, headlong production that embraces the action but misses the mystery.
"These avoidances, and others, do little harm in themselves, but accumulate into a mist of confusion. Perhaps Leon’s decision to set the action “in the near future” (as a projection tells us at the start) is part of that problem, as we cannot discern how the shift from the presumable 1570s of the text, when a real war between Venice and the Ottomans was waged, is meant to influence our understanding.
The geographical setting is also vague. The collection of slab-like columns by Derek McLane, lit in sickly, sullen colors by Natasha Katz, could be anywhere. Though some uniforms marked “Polizia” suggest Venice, others feature U.S. flags, and Dede Ayite’s exceedingly well-cut civilian suits and Armani-style ensembles for Desdemona perhaps point more to Milan. Interstitial music includes American hip-hop and Andrea Bocelli in schmaltzy Europop mode.
In short, as I felt the production’s blunt force more and more, I grasped its aura and aims less and less.
“Othello,” unique among Shakespeare’s tragedies, is lean. (It’s even leaner in this production, thanks to some judicious cutting.) It has fewer major characters than most, and fewer sideshows. (Among the cuts: the annoying clown.) Its poetry is extraordinary. And though four principals die, all ultimately by Iago’s hand or influence, it does not tumble indiscriminately toward the blood bath. The deaths are specific and necessary to its themes.
Leon’s “Othello” gets all that, except the themes."
Updated On: 3/24/25 at 12:01 AM
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