Dominic West’s Yorkshire Iago blows critics away

FROM the mean streets of Baltimore to the only slightly less gritty roads of Sheffield, Dominic West is proving that he can do both good cop and bad cop with aplomb in a new production of Shakespeare's Othello at the Crucible theatre.
 
The Wire star has returned to his birth place to play Iago, the maleficent general whose jealousies and grudges lead him to plot the downfall of his commander, Othello the Moor. Incidentally, Othello is played by fellow Wire detective Clarke Peters, in a stroke of genius casting by director Daniel Evans. Here the versatile West, who has employed impeccable British and American voices in previous roles returns to his Yorkshire accent, which the actor told the BBC gives his character "that degree of earthy, upfront, straightforward honesty".
 
Critics seem to agree. Writing in the Independent, Paul Taylor praised West for his "forthright approach and strong Sheffield tones". West's achievement, Taylor notes, is his ability to  merge this with "the chillingly hypnotic, manipulative power" of his performance as Fred West in the recent TV play Appropriate Adult. The result is that "there are moments here that freeze the soul".
 
The Guardian's theatre critic, Michael Billington, writes that although he has seen more evil Iagos, West's incorporation of "surface honesty" is "excellent" and "yields a lot of laughs".
 
Further commendation comes from Dominic Cavendish in the Daily Telegraph who adds that "West has a knack for evil" which, in this role, is augmented by his adoption of "a rough 'ee bah gum' accent".
 
All high praise for 41-year-old West, whose CV also boasts the BBC's recent period drama The Hour on top of numerous high-profile plays. As Cavendish writes: "The night belongs to Iago". ·