Broadway’s revival of Shakespeare’s Othello has received mixed reviews from critics, many of whom have taken issue with the modernization of the production.
Set in the “near future,” Othello is led by Hollywood heavyweights Denzel Washington as the titular commanding warrior-general and Jake Gyllenhaal as his ambitious lieutenant Iago.
“Spurned for promotion, Iago’s relentless quest for vengeance against Othello and his wife, Desdemona (portrayed by Molly Osborne), plunges them into a shocking web of deception and betrayal,” according to an official logline.
With only a 15-week run, the show, directed by Tony Award winner Kenny Leon and taking place at Ethel Barrymore Theatre, has already broken box office records to become the highest-grossing Broadway play ever, raking in $2.8 million in previews in a single week.
Despite movie stars Washington and Gyllenhaal being lauded for their performances, the revival hasn’t totally landed with critics.
“Given the visibly well-heeled nature of the audience at the performance I attended, and the slick, contemporary attire used in Kenny Leon’s production, as designed by Dede Ayite, I felt at times like I was watching an immersive, militarized version of Billions, or Succession,” Chris Jones wrote for New York Daily News.
Jones found that casting 70-year-old Washington opposite Osborne, 27, as Othello’s lover Desdemona, created more of a “paternalistic” dynamic. “You don’t feel much of a sexual connection between Othello and Desdemona,” he added, which he said “fights the play.”
The New York Times’s Jesse Green, meanwhile, hailed Gyllenhaal’s “eely take” on Iago, arguing that “this Othello offers an Iago far more legible than his master.”
Green additionally took issue with “Leon’s decision to set the action ‘in the near future,’” adding: “In short, as I felt the production’s blunt force more and more, I grasped its aura and aims less and less.”
Deadline’s Greg Evans also found the modernizing premise unfortunate, writing that it “seriously impacts the emotional punch of the ending.”
As for the acting, he found Washington’s performance to be “fine, a bit unsure of his characterization occasionally and fitful in his mood shifts.”
However, Evans applauded Gyllenhaal, saying: “Gyllenhaal grabs hold and never lets go, reciting his lines with all the modern-day suavity, earnestness and, when necessary, crocodile tears to fill up the Barrymore’s massive stage.”
For AMNY, Matt Windman had a far more withering take on the overall production.
“It’s okay, at best — a pedestrian, cheap-looking, uninspired, forgettable staging,” he added, opining that “a major problem is Washington’s half-baked performance.”
“While he is fine at first as a stately military leader and relaxed new husband, he does not credibly convey the character’s transformation into mad jealousy and suspicion, reducing it to something vaguely kooky and unthreatening,” Windman critiqued of Washington’s Othello.
He found Gyllenhaal to be a “capable and physical Iago,” though he thought “his attempts to depict the character as unsure and vulnerable during private soliloquies are unconvincing.”
Othello runs now through July 8 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on Broadway.
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