Otello – review

Tim Albery's Opera North production of Otello relocates Verdi's masterpiece to a US naval base during the second world war. Fine though much of it is, the staging never quite justifies the transposition.

The opening is strongly politicised. Appearing on a balcony as the storm rages, Ronald Samm's Otello flings a Nazi flag to the crowd below, who burn it with ritual glee. During the following victory dance, however, we become aware of suspect attitudes on the part of some of the officers both to Otello and to his marriage, with the result that Iago's bitter opening gambit to Roderigo is immediately placed in a context of simmering racism and social unease.

But the political context slips from view in much of what follows, as Albery settles into what is ultimately a straightforward psychological interpretation, albeit done with great care and restraint. There's one lapse when Albery allows David Kempster's Iago to overhear the love duet between Samm and Elena Kelessidi's Desdemona, his unauthorised presence grating against the intimacy of the score. Elsewhere, there are fine insights. Albery's understanding of barrack-room male bonding speaks volumes when Otello overhears Iago and Michael Wade Lee's Cassio talking about the handkerchief. The low-key tone of the whole also means that Desdemona's public humiliation and her murder are truly horrific when we get to them.

It is not, however, as well sung as it might be. Kelessidi's tone curdles. Samm, though wonderfully committed, is pushed to his vocal limits on occasion. The great performances come from Kempster, whose elegant phrasing marvellously captures Iago's lethal charm, and from Wade Lee, who gives Cassio a real presence for once. Orchestrally, it is fabulous: Richard Farnes's conducting, at once detailed and visceral, is outstanding.