Othello directed by Kathryn Hunter for the RSC.
Othello is an African general working for the Venetian State. When he and Desdemona, a senator's daughter, fall in love, they marry secretly knowing their union will not be approved. Their love should signal a celebration of difference, the triumph of love over prejudice and intolerance. Instead it is destroyed by jealousy.
Shakespeare shines a fierce spotlight on the jealous heart and on our attitudes towards the outsider. A story of its time and for our time, full of terror and beauty, Othello is urgent, gripping, radical and beautiful.
Taking the title role is Patrice Naiambana, who most recently appeared in the RSC's acclaimed two year Histories Cycle in The Courtyard Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, and London's Roundhouse.
Natalia Tena, best known for her role as Tonks in the Harry Potter films, joins the RSC for the first time to play Desdemona. She recently played Fevvers in Kneehigh Theatre's Nights At The Circus and appeared in Bronte and Gone To Earth with Shared Experience.
Michael Gould rejoins the Company to play Iago. His recent credits include Women of Troy and Attempts on her Life for the National Theatre, The Ugly One at the Royal Court and In Extremis for Shakespeare's Globe.
Kathryn Hunter, recently appointed RSC Artistic Associate, returns to the Company to direct, following her 1996 production of Everyman. An acclaimed actress and director, Kathryn is a former associate member of Complicite, with whom she won an Olivier Award for her performance in The Visit.
Marcello Magni, a co-founder of Complicite, will direct movement and also joins the Company to play Roderigo.
Othello tours Coventry, Hackney, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Oxford and Liverpool between January and March 2009.
