Smooth Faced Gentlemen & Greenwich Theatre to Bring All-Female OTHELLO to Edinburgh Fringe

The award-winning Smooth Faced Gentlemen, an all-female ensemble, return to Edinburgh with Othello, Shakespeare's tragedy of misdirection, manipulation and intense sexual jealousy.

Othello is Smooth Faced Gentlemen's second fringe show and is a stylish retelling of Shakespeare's classic tragedy. Set in the blistering heat of 1950's Venice, in the light of the Cuban Missile Crisis, Othello is performed with the backdrop of the cold war, a time of deception and fighting between empires and small states.

Othello, newly married to Desdemona is dispatched to war. Iago, overpassed for promotion by Cassio plots revenge on Othello and misguides Othello into believing Cassio is having an affair with Desdemona. Smooth Faced Gentlemen bring wit and humour to Othello, Shakespeare's classic tragedy of revenge, jealousy and conspiracy, playing each character to their original gender.

Smooth Faced Gentlemen was formed in 2012 after being inspired by gender-swapping in the RSC's King John, and all male companies such as Propeller. Othello is their third show, following from the box office hit Titus Andronicus and Romeo and Juliet. Winners of the John Beecher Award for Innovative Theatre (2013).

Othello is directed by Yaz Al-Shaater (Titus Andronicus, Not the Messiah), and stars Anita-Joy Uwejah (Gone Too Far - Royal Court, A Day at the Racists - Rogue State Theatre, the Finborough Theatre) as Othello and Ashlea Kaye (In The Dark - National Arts Service, The World's Greatest Walking Tour of Edinburgh, Pleasance, 2012), Artistic Director and Co-Founder of Smooth Faced Gentlemen as Iago.

Alongside Othello, Smooth Faced Gentlemen are also returning their wonderfully modern Titus Andronicus to the Festival Fringe at the Pleasance Theatre. The same ensemble of eight actors will perform Shakespeare's earliest tragedy at the Pleasance Dome.