Evening Standard from London, Greater London, England • 6

EVENING STANDARD 6 WEDNESDAY 17 SEPTEMBER 1997 0 0 urvive by ALISON ROBERTS Arts Editor as a vegetarian whispered arts minister Mark Fisher glancing squeamishly at Damien rotting head Someone should have told him: the Royal Sensation exhibition is no place for salad-eating over-forties bow-tie wearers Contemporary art we learned at the opening party last night is Bold Bright British and relentlessly young Still civilisation end with the official opening and neither did the party guests many sporting dyed hair of a subversive nature appear corrupted by the allegedly art Sensation which features works from Charles over-influential collection met with a warm reception even as it baffled the older representatives of art establishment You could spot those crustier types from afar a bit like a playground said a well-dressed man with tell-tale grey hair and a grimace as he peered into Tracey tent entitled Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963-1995 Jeremy Paxman flew around the galleries and then fled altogether Lady Helen Windsor wrinkled her nose a little John Tusa said: think going to like it" The other camp were also easy to identify: Ffion Jenkins William fiance and a recent member of the arts gang having taken a job with the sponsorship promotors ABSA was smiling merrily while Salman Rushdie and pop star Nick Cave both positively glowed with appreciation After a while last party spilled out onto the forecourt where a marquee had Low profile: sought-after been erected presumably so that the guests could smoke their heads off well away from the contents Everyone was smoking as though Mr government were about to ban cigarettes Skinny young artists scrabbled over the canapes handsome boys in NHS spectacles kept shouting but Hirst was keeping a low profile His formaldehyde-bound shark is looking a bit leathery these days as though it needs a good iron Guests were drinking lager which must have been a first for Burlington House but was all in keeping with the spirit of the evening a serious side to Sensation of course Pieces by Jake and Dinos Chapman particularly those dealing with child abuse are certainly thought-provoking certainly shocking The Myra Hindley portrait by Marcus Harvey constructed out of the palm prints of a child is deeply disturbing But hard to find in the show unless of course in the business of promoting it The only piece which might carry a public health warning incidentally is old cow head you can smell it from four paces (although a suspicious scent of air-freshener lingers too) and the live flies which swarm around it are making concerted attempts to escape from their glass box Apparently one or two have broken out already not a place for the faint-hearted Leader comment: Page 11 much Damien Hirst The sr-t Mdhi London our total sales Othello Sweet young thing scales bitter height of pathos rage he presses a revolver against throat and you begin to see Moor is at the mercy of uncontrollable emotions The slap that he delivers to Desdemona in public is both a sign of the breakdown engulfing him and an omen of murderous violence adly Iago who ought to seem honest to have any chance of drawing Othello and Colin charmless miscast Cassio into his plotting is played as a cross between obvious pantomime villain and ugly sister Since Russell wife-hating Iago has the complexity of a steam-roller he ruins the psychology Speaking at the speed of a gabble which garbles meaning his anal retentive Iago struts in black military garb and exudes such blatant leering evil he raises laughter rather than goose pimples Amazingly the production manages to enthrall despite him Ratings: No stars adequate it good very good outstanding Xpoor Other reviews: Page 48 FIRST-NIGHT by Nicholas de Jongh Theatre Edwardian of Othello this even same lemon in the But 1930s aspects in a dinner Maureen bewildered to a negro Desdemona matters of more of a stud than of imagining ample youthfulness aura His Othello always poised on the Ilarewood anguish or goaded to CLAIRE Desdemona a sweet young thing wandering about Cyprus in a cocktail dress and painted toe-nails beats frail hands against the chest of Othello who believes her a sexual deceiver On her death-bed she again rains down weak blows upon Othello this time hands and feet frantic voice a muffled scream while David imposing Othello suffocates the life out of her Never before have I seen this the most painful scene in all Shakespeare achieve such ghastly pathos But then never before this captivating production by Sam Mendes set in the 1930s had I dreamed Desdemona could steal the show Othello seen too rarely because the theatre silly enforcers of political correctness decree only black actors may take the title-role may not be the greatest Shakespearean tragedy 1 fancy however quite the most emotionally affecting And last night Miss blanched Desdemona passing from flirtatious gravity to waif-like desperation ensured that the final high notes of emotion were reached production on Anthony marble-floored bareish stage-set with its portico and paving stones maintains a constant clenched fist of tension and atmospherics It reaches a terrific almost film noir climax when with rain pouring down and jazz music echoing in the stillness Simon Russell Iago scuttles through darkness to murder Crispin wimpish Roderigo In this 1930s setting sharp though insufficient difference between a cold officious Venice with black-booted vaguely fascist officials and an exotic Cyprus all sun cicadas and beating drums where Othello takes command Mendes is obviously indebted to Trevor Nunn The Cottesloe whose famous production looked so having the barley Cyprus sun modernising Othello jacket Emilia spiritual with seem detail David Othello muscular the old But he takes of his and powerful brooding looks as if verge of does not collapse wrack But Martin King Managing Director Options Marble Limited like served or listening -only cosmetic imposing is young war-horse advantage temper greatly on when BUSINESS UMl lONDON MiiMil.