OTHELLO | ON SCREEN @ THEATRE ROYAL DRURY LANE
Harry Potter and Mr Bates Vs The Post Office actor Toby Jones joins Homeland and Sherwood favourite David Harewood to star in a new production of Shakespeare’s psychological thriller Othello, streaming exclusively on Marquee TV from 1 May – as a reader MustSeeTheatre.com save 30% off an annual subscription when you subscribe by clicking HERE.
In 1997, David Harewood made history as the first Black actor to play Othello at the National Theatre, London. In this performance, Harewood reprises his historic role three decades on in an acclaimed live performance filmed at Theatre Royal Haymarket in London. Othello is Shakespeare’s only play with a black lead, but for centuries directors cast white actors in blackface for the role.
On his historic 1997 performance Harewood reflects, “I was trying to de-blackface the whole character.” Turning his attention to his return to the role, he continues, “I got a phone call from my agent, ‘Would David have any desire to play Othello again?’ As soon as she mentioned it, a lightbulb went on. I was so young when I played it before, so I thought let me give it another crack. I was just far more familiar than when I was younger with the emotional toll of the pain and loss of love. As an older man, I found that so much more painful.”
READ MORE | Othello Review – David Harewood & Toby Jones excel as exhilarating Othello transfers to small screen
The production, which ran on London’s West End from 23 October, 2025, to 17 January, 2026, also stars Caitlin Fitzgerald as Desdemona, Vinette Robinson, making her West End debut, as Amelia, and Olivier Award-winner Luke Treadaway as Cassio. Directed by Tom Morris and featuring music from alternative music icon PJ Harvey, Marquee TV will stream it exclusively in the UK, USA, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and South Korea.
Olivier and BAFTA Award-winning Jones adds, “It’s a Shakespeare play, so every single time we perform the play I hear something that I haven’t heard before. It’s the extraordinary thing of working on a poem effectively that you’re surprised, delighted, and slightly shocked by the nuance of phrases you haven’t taken in before.”
Fitzgerald observes, “In this play Shakespeare gives Amelia some really proto-feminist language that is so extraordinary,” and Robinson agrees, “The speech Amelia has in the willow scene is one of the most incredible feminist speeches Shakespeare wrote, however many hundreds of years ago, that is still relevant today. So, what Shakespeare is incredible at is understanding human nature which is why we’re still performing him now.”
Treadaway, meanwhile, offers, “These stories are universal. They’re about jealousy, love, and betrayal, and things that happen to all of us in modern times. I think they’re all just amazing worlds to break open and go into.”
And the good news is that Marquee TV is delighted to be offering 30% off annual subscriptions for Must See Theatre readers. Curated by experts, from world-class ballet, opera, theatre, music, and dance, to visual arts and documentaries, every title is hand-picked to showcase the very best of the arts. Whether it’s a landmark Royal Shakespeare Company production, or a sold-out National Gallery exhibition, Marquee TV offers audiences unrivalled access to unmissable culture. Just click HERE.
Cecilia Bacon, VP of Content and Engagement at Marquee TV, says, “This is a major moment for bringing world-class theatre to streaming audiences at scale. David Harewood’s return to Othello is both historically significant and artistically powerful, and we’re proud to introduce this production to viewers as part of our growing slate.”
Othello streams exclusively on Marquee TV from 1 May 2026 – Promo code HERE
