Kenny Leon Sets His Denzel Washington-Led Othello in the Near Future: 'Let's Set It in October 2028'

Director Kenny Leon is hard at work crafting a brand-new Othello, Shakespeare's tale of vengeance starring Denzel Washington as the title general and Jake Gyllenhaal as his sociopathic ensign Iago. Leon's vision is less loudly advertized than this season's other Shakespearean addition, Sam Gold's Romeo + Juliet, which landed on Broadway like a Gen Z primal scream. But at a recent press event for Othello, Leon did share one enticing detail.

"I set it in the near future," Leon told Broadway.com. "Because whatever the political climate was, I didn't want it to be that. But I didn't want it to be so far ahead that it felt like, 'Oh, that's so far ahead. That's not me.'" Leon also expressed an aversion to a strictly historical Othello, classically set during the 16th-century Ottoman-Venetian War: "I didn't want to do that version of Shakespeare," he said. "And so it's like, 'Oh, let's set it in October 2028.' That allows the audience to find themselves in the story of it."

Aside from its near-futureness, October 2028 is also curiously at the epicenter of America's next Presidential election cycle. Coincidence? Only time and a trip to the Barrymore Theatre willl tell. 

Preview performances begin February 24 with an official March 23 opening.