Theatre Royal, Waterford
January 31 – February 2, 2007
University Concert Hall, Limerick
February 2 –February 9, 2007
The Helix Theatre Dublin
February 13 – March 9, 2007
Town Hall Theatre, Galway
March 12 – March 15, 2007
Promotional poster for the show
As Othello, with Maeve Fitzgerald as Desdemona and Colin O'Donoghue as Cassio (PHOTO: Terry Murphy)
As Othello, with Maeve Fitzgerald as Desdemona and Colin O'Donoghue as Cassio (PHOTO: Terry Murphy)
As Othello, with Simon O'Gorman as Iago (PHOTO: Terry Murphy)
Critical Response
“The production is more than enhanced by Johnny Lee Davenport as Othello, one of those “perfect figures of a man” who is also an actor of depth and subtlety, going from arrogant disdain for convention in his wooing of and elopement with Desdemona to broken-hearted disillusion taking refuge in spurned rage. He’s one hell of an Othello.”
—Emer O’Kelly, The Sunday Independent (February 4, 2007)
“The Moor Othello admits that he is ‘rude in speech,’ but Johnny Lee Davenport bears a classical stature and fluency that intimates otherwise. . . . Performances are strong and follow clear lines of characterisation, which are easily accessible. . . . Davenport, for example, is a noble Othello transformed to murderer, and his soliloquies become naturally integrated as the rambling inner monologues of a madman.”
—Reviews, The Irish Times (February 15, 2007)
“The Moor himself is an enigma. Davenport, in fine, sonorous voice, portrays a commander who is strong in battle yet ridiculously facile in love.”
—Fiona Ness, Sunday Business Post (February 18, 2007)
“Johnny Lee Davenport . . . dominates proceedings. Accomplished to the point where he can afford to invest the Moor’s tragedy with some deftly observed comic asides, Davenport is head and shoulders above his cohorts in terms of stagecraft.”
—Declan Burke, The Sunday London Times (March 4, 2007)
“[Y]ou would be very lucky to see a better interpretation of the main character than that given by Johnny Lee Davenport. . . He has the voice and the stature that make Othello’s early, slightly bombastic stories credible. He is dignified before the Duke, playfully loving with Desdemona, jovial with his men and, most importantly he conveys Othello’s vulnerability as a black outsider, tolerated only because of his military skills. . . . Davenport brilliantly portrays Othello’s underlying sense of social inferiority and we realize why Iago can insinuate himself as a trusty friend turned into the local mores.”
—Review of show at Dublin’s Helix Theatre (2007)