"Oyelowo and Craig enter the ranks of first-rate classical stage actors. I’ve never seen an 'Othello' as convincingly inexorable as this one...What’s so thrilling about this 'Othello' is that everything that occurs is so irrevocably inevitable...It’s a no-exit theater of war, invisibly stage-managed by a military underling with an instinct for human frailties...This incandescent production makes it possible for us to speak with rare understanding of this Othello—and this Iago—as they are."
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"Gold knows when to increase the volume on his contemporary touches and when simply to trust the words. This isn’t a radical re-interpretation of 'Othello' so much as a fresh coat of paint and a strong, clear reading, never forgetting our present moment...The acting throughout is vivid, muscular and great on the ear. Craig and Oyelowo are superb together, and they give the language heft and fire...Oyelowo is the most physically imposing, emotionally stricken Othello in memory."
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"Ripping good modern-dress production starring Oyelowo and Craig under Sam Gold’s masterly direction...Oyelowo easily wraps his mouth around Othello’s triple-crème verse yet makes a fully believable spectacle of the irrationality that nibbles away at all that beauty...And Craig, in his best NY stage outing to date, makes something disturbingly familiar out of his casually amoral Iago...This production brings us closer to the cold heart of sociopathy than anything outside of the nightly news."
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"This production is more a good first try than a fully realized theatrical creation...Mr. Gold has given us yet another version of the same kind of the-time-is-now 'Othello' that I’ve seen in theaters all over the U.S...Mr. Craig's Iago is a pencil sketch rather than an oil painting, strong and forceful but devoid of poetic depth, much the same things that could be said about the production as a whole...Outside of Mr. Oyelowo, the best thing about this 'Othello' is its intimacy."
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"David Oyelowo and Daniel Craig bring exceptional technical skill and at times riveting commitment...What’s missing in Craig's performance is the caustic burn of evil that drives Iago...What seems like a determined lack of connection with evil is not the only off-note of Gold’s production. It seems designed to disengage the audience at every turn...Oyelowo, however, builds in near-terrifying power to the play’s complicated climax."
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"The good news is that the starry pairing is just as potent onstage as it is on the page of Shakespeare's tragedy of jealousy run amok. The two movie stars ably talk the talk...At times, however, the three-plus-hour production directed by Sam Gold doesn't do the actors favors...At times actors speak for extended stretches in complete darkness and at other times lit only by headlamps or a dim bulb...The concept comes off as gimmicky, not illuminating."
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"Oyelowo makes a fierce Othello, using his imposing physical presence and resonant voice to reduce this noble character to a more primal state...Craig takes advantage of his military surroundings to add another dimension to Iago’s character. He’s still the sly villain who takes abstract delight in the destruction of his victims...The female characters are the only ones not well-served in the production’s military environment."
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"Sam Gold's tremendously exciting, sensationally well-acted modern-dress production...Both actors are fighting fit in roles they seem born to play, the subtlety as well as the terrifying intensity of their work magnified by the startling intimacy of watching them up close...The brilliant match of this production's Othello and Iago is fortified by the entire ensemble's muscular performance style and vigorous grasp of the language...This visceral production is not to be missed."
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