Frantic Assembly have announced casting for its acclaimed production of Shakespeare’s Othello, which will tour from this autumn, opening at Curve Theatre Leicester on 19 September.

Michael Akinsulire (Trigger Point, Stephen; both ITV) will play Othello, with Joe Layton  (The Unreturning, Frantic Assembly; Young Wallander, Netflix) as Iago, Chanel  Waddock (Rock, Paper, Scissors, Sheffield Crucible; Hamlet, National Theatre) as Desdemona, Oliver Baines (I Like The Way You Move, Frantic Ignition 2019, Theatre Peckham) as Montano, Tom Gill (Vigil, BBC; Britannia, Sky) as Cassio, Felipe Pacheco (Brassic, Sky; The Responder, BBC) as Roderigo, Hannah Sinclair  Robinson (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, UK and Ireland Tour; Rockets, Blue Lights, both National Theatre) as Bianca, Kirsty Stuart (I Think We Are Alone, Frantic Assembly; Call the Midwife, BBC) as Emilia, and Matthew  Trevannion (War Horse, National Theatre; The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, West End) as Brabantio. 

Five members of the Othello cast and creative team are past graduates of Frantic Assembly’s Ignition programme including Associate Director David Gilbert, Co Choreographer Perry Johnson, Joe Layton (Iago), Oliver Baines (Montano) and Felipe  Pacheco (Roderigo), proving that Frantic Assembly is at the forefront of finding, developing, and providing opportunity for new talent from all over the UK.

Frantic Assembly Co-Founder and Artistic Director Scott Graham said: “It is wonderful to be able to take our work back out on tour, to connect and demonstrate the talent of this brilliant cast within a story that feels as urgent and thrilling as ever”. 

Blisteringly relevant today, Othello exposes the tension, fear and insecurity buried beneath the veneer of our relationships and how easily that can be maliciously exploited. Lies and truths are blurred to create a poison paranoia that eats away from the inside, manipulating and destroying, turning a community upon itself. 

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. 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 to Curve Leicester, Liverpool Playhouse, Theatre Royal Plymouth, Theatre Royal York, Yvonne Arnaud Guildford, Oxford Playhouse, The Lowry Salford Quays, MAST Mayflower Studios Southampton, Connaught Theatre, Worthing and the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre London.

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