Othello

Synopsis: Full-length radio adaptation of Shakespeare’s tragedy produced by Val Gielgud. The script of the broadcast has been edited by M. R. Ridley who also introduces the broadcast. With Jack Hawkins, Margaret Leighton, John Clements and Fay Compton. Duncan Carse narrates.
The performance is preceded by an introduction which enlarges on the question of Iago’s motives and designs and dramatic devices such as the double time scheme in order to guarantee, in the narrator’s words, the " full appreciation of a play which ... is by common consent the most tense and painfully exciting".
Language: English
Country: Great Britain
Medium: Radio
Recording date: 4 Jul 1948
Transmission details: 27 Mar 1949 at 18:00 (Channel: BBC Third Programme)
Duration: 125 mins
Availability: No archive copy known

Notes: A BBC recording.
General: Rehearsals: 30/6/1948-4/7/1948
History: Broadcast in two parts. Part 1: 18.00-19.45, Part 2: 20.00-21.20.
Textual information: A written transcript of the production is held at the Birmingham Central Library as part of their Shakespeare Collection.
Reviews: According to reviewer Philip Hope-Wallace, this production was given "a dignified, clear reading. John Clements was a basso Iago, Mephistophelean and unsubtle to a point where ... one lost the sense of the lines. Jack Hawkins was noble, without whining, and made shift to put the big rages through the fine sieve of the microphone... .Margaret Leighton and Fay Compton sounded expert" ('The Pachyderm Reproved’ by Philip Hope-Wallace, The Listener, Vol. 41, 31 March 1949, p. 551).

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British Universities Film & Video Council