Shakespeare's Othello should, of course, be called Iago. The Moor rarely holds the center of the piece, the rare exception being the film version of the play with Orson Welles as both star and director. So it should come as no surprise that, although Keith David gives a visceral performance as Othello in the new production at the Public Theater, he plays straight man to Liev Schreiber's coldly calculating Iago. Doug Hughes, former artistic director at the Long Wharf Theatre, tries to even the playing field between the two actors, but Shakespeare won't have it. This is still Iago's play.

There is a tendency, inevitable but unfair, to compare and contrast the performances in various Shakes[...]