FrankFinlay.Net
Othello
By William Shakespeare
Directed by John Dexter
The National Theatre
The Old Vic, London - Opened 21st April 1964
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Michael Rothwell ... Roderigo Frank Finlay ... Iago Martin Boddey ... Brabantio Laurence Olivier ... Othello Derek Jacobi ... Cassio Edward Petherbridge ... Senate officer George Innes ... Senate officer Edward Caddick ... Gratiano Keneth Mackintosh ... Lodovico Harry Lomax ... Duke of Terence Knapp ... Duke's Officer Keith Marsh ... Senator Tom Kempinski ... Sailor Peter John ... Messenger Maggie Smith ... Desdamona Edward Hardwicke ... Montano William Hobbs ... Cypriot Officer Roger Heathcott ... Cypriot Officer Keith Marsh ... Cypriot Officer Joyce Redman ... Emilia Neil Fitzpatrick ... Herald Mary Miller ... Bianca Senators, Soldiers, Cypriots: Raymond Clarke, Neil Fitzpatrick, Reginald Green, Roger Heathcott, William Hobbs, George Innes, Caroline John, Peter john, Tom Kempinski, Terence Knapp, Keith Marsh, Ronald Pember, Edward Petherbridge, Sheila Reid, John Rogers, Robert Russell, Frank Wylie. |
In Rehearsal
 John Dexter, Frank Finlay, Laurence Olivier |
 The First Read Through: Frank Finlay & Laurence Olivier |
 Laurence Olivier & Frank Finlay |
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As an actor, Gielgud was heart and soul, while Olivier was blood and
guts, so it's not surprising that Olivier seems the more tortured.
Although blessed with phenomenal talent, looks and success, he remained
restless, suspicious and threatened by competition. He didn't have to
go into the ring to fight it out, but in 1966, when he was planning
Othello at the National, he faced a problem. Audiences had become more
cynical than in Kean's day - now they relished Iago's deviousness and
were impatient with Othello's vulnerability - so the reigning champion
might be at a disadvantage. Frank Finlay, a fine but undemonstrative
actor, was cast as Iago, and his lines reduced. Unnecessary
precautions, I believe. Olivier's blacked-up Othello may not be PC
nowadays, but it was an astonishing piece of acting: every fibre of his
being transformed into someone else. And yet the curse of the Moorish
play - a duel between the two protagonists - had one more twist in its
tail. When the production was filmed, the camera was unflattering to
Olivier's huge performance, while revealing Finlay's low-key Iago to be
superb. Sir Anthony Sher - You don't have to be mad to be a great actor ... but it helps. The Guardian, Thursday May 24, 2007 |
| Frank Finlay's Iago runs a strangely effective gamut from braggart to whimpering, self justifying neurotic, plainly deranged by the last scene; an Iago who wanes but seems quite unusually well motivated. Philip Hope-Wallace, The Guardian. Frank Finlay's convincing and powerful Iago is bluff, provincial noisy and professionally jealous, sometimes goading himself into hysterical furry, less a Machiavelli than one of those amoeba-minded Southern Senators who still foam at the mouth at the thought of a black man and a white woman getting into bed together. Harold Hobson, The Sunday Times Frank Finlay's most subtle Iago is the only one I have ever seen who comes near to justifying the title "honest, honest." He also makes a perfect touchstone for all the other characters.Bamber Gascoigne, The Observer |