New take on Shakespeare’s tragedy of paranoia, sex and murder - Worthing

Artistic director Scott Graham said: “As relevant today as it ever was, Othello exposes the tension, fear and paranoia buried beneath the veneer of our relationships and how easily that can be maliciously exploited.

“Frantic Assembly takes Shakespeare’s muscular and beautiful text, combines its own bruising physicality and presents an Othello firmly rooted in a volatile 21st century. Othello was a huge leap. We had been talking about making a show about racial tension and a broken Britain but it took me some time to convince that Othello was our way of doing this. The original suggestion came from another director who just said, out of the blue, that we should do Othello. We initially dismissed this but the idea fascinated me.

“I loved working with this text. Cutting it down and moving it around sometimes felt like sacrilege and like we were asking for trouble but we felt that if we held our nerve we could tell this story with passion and clarity. There was never a disregard or lack of respect for the language. We adored it, but we knew the show we wanted to make and we felt we could do that while also being true to the heart of Othello.

“This is a world of broken glass and broken promises, of poisonous manipulation and explosive violence. Othello’s passionate affair with Desdemona becomes the catalyst for jealousy, betrayal, revenge and the darkest intents.”

Originally presented to great acclaim in 2008 and 2014, this updated version in co-production with Curve Theatre Leicester, will tour the UK from autumn onwards. Othello is directed by Scott Graham, designed by Laura Hopkins, with lighting design by Natasha Chivers, sound design by Gareth Fry, music by Hybrid and casting by Will Burton.

Frantic Assembly is led by artistic director and co-founder Scott Graham. It has toured extensively across Great Britain and worked in more than 40 countries internationally, collaborating with some of today’s most inspiring artists: “Frantic Assembly is currently studied as leading contemporary theatre practitioners on five British and international academic syllabuses. The success of the company’s distinct approach has influenced contemporary theatre-making and foregrounded the use of movement directors and choreographers in new dramatic works.” Frantic Assembly productions include I Think We Are Alone (UK Tour), The Unreturning (UK Tour), Fatherland (Manchester International Festival 2017 and Lyric Hammersmith Theatre 2018), Things I Know To Be True (UK and Australia), Othello (UK), Beautiful Burnout (UK, Australia, New Zealand, New York), Lovesong (UK and Australia).