About that embroidered handkerchief so crucial to Othello's undoing in the William Shakespeare tragedy that takes his name: When it's too late, Desdemona's loyal attendant Emilia (Ayesha Dharker) says of her mistress and the item: "She let it drop."
This isn't so, however, in Iqbal Khan's powerful Royal Shakespeare Company Othello production (HD screening September 23, check for other dates). Here, it's not Desdemona (Joanna Vanderham) who drops it when earlier she attempts to soothe her husband's wounded brow. Othello (Hugh Quarshie) himself--furious with Desdemona because he believes the scheme Iago (Lucian Msamati) has concocted to make her out as an adulterer--grabs the handkerchief from her and throws it to the ground.
Iqbal isn't the first to plot the unconscious maneuver, but he's in a small group. Nonetheless, the directorial choice is a shrewd and, in its way, a cruel one, since Othello's discarding the handkerchief makes him that much more complicit in his wanton self-destruction.
And that's not the only unusual notion Iqbal includes that gives his treatment such extraordinary theatrical pull. At one point--and obviously intended to give Othello contemporary resonance--the Moor attends to military business while nearby a war prisoner is waterboarded in a shallow pool (that previously had been revealed as a much larger Venice canal). Othello pays no attention to the activity. Later, when attempting to be certain that Iago is telling the truth, this Othello resorts to his own brand of torture by securing his supposed best friend to a chair and all but choking the man to death.
It may be that Iqbal's biggest departure from traditional casting is his selecting a black actor to play Iago. On paper, the decision sounds as if it could have a significant effect. In actuality, it changes very little. Perhaps there's the suggestion that part of Iago's repeated hatred of Othello stems from his jealousy at being outstripped by another man of color, but that would be the least of what Shakespeare has incorporated in his script as Iago's motivation.
(Curiously, what the Bard doesn't get into is something else entirely. Iago states in the first scene that he's smarting because, though he's Othello's staunch sidekick, he's been passed over for promotion in favor of Cassio. Yet at no point does it occur to Othello that Iago might be upset about the situation and interested in seeking retribution.)
With Iqbal's Othello, the RSC certainly looks to be extending its list of strong productions. Unquestionably, the cast here is notable, beginning with Quarshie's initially completely commanding title character. A man admirably comfortable in his own skin, this Othello takes a long time to lose belief in his world. Quarshie makes the transition work smoothly. Also, his depiction of Othello's epileptic seizure couldn't be more convincing.
Msamati's Iago is irresistibly shifty. A proper navy man while gulling everyone around him, Iago, as Msamati plays him, isn't necessarily the embodiment of evil, but someone deeply wounded, whose only recourse is to strike out. As Iqbal directs it, this Iago is constantly and casually brutal. His treatment of the easily gulled Roderigo (James Corrigan) is a potent example of that.
Vanderham's Desdemona isn't necessarily a guileless young woman. Instead, she's sure of what she wants and then utterly puzzled when what she thought she had begins to crumble. Praise applies to the entire cast, especially to Dharker's stark Emilia, Jacob Fortune-Lloyd's Cassio (what a dashing leading man he's becoming), Corrigan's put-upon Roderigo, Brian Protheroe's haughty Brabantio and Tim Samuels's stern Ludovico.
Ciaran Bagnall's set is regally gloomy, and Fotini Dimou's costumes are a cunning combination of period and contemporary. They have to be, since modern appliances show up--at least one iPhone.
And that iPhone is yet another instance of Iqbal's determination to underscore Othello's relevance to today. Needless to say, there's never a real worry about that. The passions built into the play's very fibers guarantee it, and Iqbal honors them all.