Iago (Cracked Actors Theatre) ★★★

Written by Douglas Hackett. Midsumma Festival. Cracked Actors Theatre. 31 Jan – 4 Feb, 2024

Two actors meet to rehearse an upcoming production of Shakespeare’s Othello. The older, successful Gold (Gideon Mzembe) playing Othello is welcoming, but seems to assert his power over the less experienced Joe (Willem Whitfield) playing Iago. Over the course of the next few weeks, the two navigate their emotional minefields to find themselves in bed, in love and then out of love.

Much like an actual character, there are the things Hackett’s Iago says it is, things it wants to be and the things that it actually is – and these three things are rarely the same. On paper, Iago is sold to us as a “modern revisioning” of Othello and an exploration of male sexuality in the modern day. Aside from a few speeches there is little exploration of the various shades of sexuality. In fact, I was generally confused about the characters’ sexualities from the off. It’s only rather late in the piece we discover that both men more or less define themselves as straight, albeit rather fluid. Gold chooses not to really define his sexuality while Joe is questioning what his attraction to Gold means for his own life. At first I’d read Gold as being straight and Joe as gay, so I was a little thrown when the play offered a more complex view of both their lives.

There’s room to explore here. There are elements of a clash of ideas as the two men of two generations confront their own sexuality in different ways. Gold comes across as a “I like the wine, not the label” type of classic bisexual, and there seems to be a reticence to define himself in contemporary terms. Joe meanwhile is wondering whether he’s pan-sexual (or fluid, bi, or gay). Both see the spectrum of sexuality in different ways based on their ages and experiences. 

This Iago is actually a doomed love story. Two men who are drawn to each other in what will become a “showmance” that doesn’t survive the end of the tour. All the attempts at deeper commentary fall by the wayside and their relationship of convenience comes to a bitter end. What is it like for two actors to be thrown together for months, finding emotional and sexual support from each other, and then for their whole world to alter when the show is over? This could be told with a straight couple, but the queerness gives it an extra edge. That’s something I’d be interested in digging deeper into.

Right now Iago feels like a work-in-progress in need of focusing. There are interesting characters, plot and themes, but the actual story hasn’t been refined enough to hold it all together.