By Layla Wilson
Featuring interviews with Professor Nicoleta Cinpoeş, Director Philip Parr, and actors Livy Potter and Chris Pomfrett.
On Friday, 25th April, York International Shakespeare Festival presented the premiere of Ukrainian playwright Olga Annenko’s Codename Othello. The play made BBC News headlines with organisers stating that it was “one of the most highly anticipated events of this year’s festival” (Barton). This reading and performance of a modern-day Othello,directed by Festival Artistic Director Philip Parr, is of great importance to the festival as YISF is premiering Codename Othello’s first-ever performance on the York stage. With the ongoing Ukrainian war – following Russia’s invasion in February 2022 – no time is better than the present to amalgamate Shakespeare with current affairs.
The play situates Shakespeare’s Othello (1622) into a contemporary context. Much of the discourse in the play focuses on war, except that the war is no longer that of the War of Cyprus (1570-1573), but instead the sensitivities and hardships that have come with the War of Ukraine. Olga Annenko speaks of her play, saying, “If we talk about the importance of this project for me, then, in short, it is an opportunity to talk about war and some of its hidden manifestations, such as PTSD and other psychological disorders. All this, as well as the complexity of the ordinary world, with its tricks, makes the life of a person who has returned from war impossible and unhappy.”
Professor Nicoleta Cinpoeş came across this play in conversation with a Ukrainian colleague who was based in Kyiv, where it was initially written for the music theatre. After the play was one of the finalists for the Another Othello directional work competition for the Kyiv National Operetta Theatre (2020), Nicoleta began working to attempt to translate the piece and asked director Philip Parr to look at it in hopes of potentially displaying it for YISF. They then involved Shakespeare Scholar Daria Moskvitina to translate Codename Othello, where many intertextual references were inextricably linked to Shakespeare’s Othello. The writer, Olga Annenko, is currently based in France after being displaced as a refugee with her son in the summer of 2022. However, Nicoleta expressed that Annenko “is very proactive with the refugee community”, and this is reflected in the global message that Codename Othello conveys to YISF audiences this year.
I asked Philip Parr about his experience in directing a play with such a sensitive and intensely contemporary subject. He said, “The first production of anything has to try to put faithfully on the stage what the author’s intention is.” However, he felt “a sense of honour and [being] really overwrought by the possibility of being allowed to make a piece like this.” Imaginably, there is much pressure to convey this “opportunity to talk about war, and some of its hidden manifestations” on the stage, primarily due to Nicoleta Cinpoeş admission that “it is not a comfortable story” and it may be “difficult to perform this play in Ukraine at this point in time”; however, Philip thoughtfully justified that “it might be a play for after the war, interestingly presenting for the first time in English, might just give it that certain step away of distance in the way that Shakespeare used to.”
Codename Othello explores an emotional and very difficult reality for Ukrainian refugees and the aftereffects of war. “Emotionally and psychologically, they live through this continuously. It’s reality, it’s bound to have an impact” – Nicoleta Cinpoeş. Philip Parr discussed with BBC News, arguing that “the responsibility of theatre makers in our times is no different from that of Shakespeare: to tell the stories of the time and place, and to reflect the world around us.” He added: “Shakespeare belongs to the world, and this year, that global conversation feels more vital than ever.”
In this context, the character roles of Codename Othello become especially vital. I had the pleasure of speaking with Livy Potter (who played Desdemona) on how she found acting this character, particularly from such a current perspective. The character deals with the sensitive discussion of being a woman in war, and encountering PTSD and other aftereffects of war. She said she has “found it quite difficult because I have very little experience with people who are dealing with PTSD or who have husbands or wives who are in the military. But you can imagine the constant stress.” She describes a story about “military wives who all lived together in a barracks and none of them used their front doors. So, if they’re going to visit the other wives, in that case, they’ll always use the back doors because the front doors mean that someone’s bringing bad news.” Reflecting on this, Livy explained how this “really struck with me because it’s those little things that can completely affect your whole life and what you try to do to avoid. So, just reminiscing and reflecting on all of that, doing this play has made me think about that a lot more deeply, 100%.”
Alongside Livy, I interviewed Chris Pomfrett (who played Othello), particularly on how the effects of PTSD are portrayed through this modernised version of Othello. Chris came into contact with Philip through working with him on a mystery play in 2019. Philip then asked if he was interested in coming to perform in Codename Othello this year. When speaking of the role, he said, “It’s quite interesting doing this because, with it being a new piece of writing, obviously there are big sensitivities around what’s going on currently. So, it’s quite a difficult thing for us to come in as English people who have no experience of war and do that.” He explained that the role is based on “modern-day Ukraine” and that “Othello in this production, has been sort of a fighter all his life. He’s got a dark past that he’s really struggling with, and he obviously struggles with PTSD, which is highlighted quite strongly in this play, which will obviously resonate with a lot of the people in Ukraine who have been involved in the war, and the families.” This play highlights not just the male soldiers’ battle, but the families’ realities of war and reactions to such a traumatic situation. However, the humanitarian struggle is revealed prominently through the character of Othello, “he’s very strong as a military man, but he also has his real weakness and despair.”
This play is packed with emotion, sensitivity, intensity and real human struggle. It brings Shakespeare’s historic play into a play of the now, and there is a real sense of urgency for a voice to be heard, where sometimes those feel that it cannot be. Actor Chris says that this play “ends up asking more questions than giving answers, as Shakespeare quite often does,” and this has been a chance to provoke questions and thoughtfulness in an audience who is aware of such a current issue. Much is to be taken from such a weighted play, packed full of themes, and messages, culture and experience have been conveyed through the art of theatre, just as Shakespeare did; however, it is not just there to spectate, but to act upon. There is almost a duty within an audience to ask questions that need to be asked, especially from a play such as Olga Annenko’s Codename Othello. Kenneth Rowe writes that “Great plays belong to the greatest needs of the human spirit” and this play expresses such a need to be heard, to be understood, and to be embraced and recognised by the world surrounding it.
References:
Barton, Andrew. “Ukraine War Highlighted at York Shakespeare Festival.” BBC News, 22 Apr. 2025, www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c793lyl95ppo.
Cinpoeş, Nicoleta. “Personal Interview”, 25 April 2025.
“Codename Othello – York International Shakespeare Festival.” York International Shakespeare Festival, 15 Apr. 2025, yorkshakes.co.uk/programme-2025/codename-othello/.
Parr, Philip. “Personal Interview”, 25 April 2025.
Pomfrett, Chris. “Personal Interview”, 25 April 2025.
Potter, Livy. “Personal Interview”, 25 April 2025.
Rowe, Kenneth. “Values for the War in Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and the Tempest.” College English, vol. 5, no. 4, 1944, pp. 207–13. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/370918.
Photo credits: John Saunders 2025