It would be good to see the staging methods of Luk Perceval’s Munich Kammerspiele production of Feridua Zamoglu’s and Gunter Senkel’s Othello applied to a Shakespeare play, and to Shakespeare’s Othello in particular. The only scenery is a grand piano on a raised podium centre-stage. Throughout the action (just over two hours without a break), Jens Thomas plays his own jazz-classical music, generally subtle, eclectic, and, on the whole, impressive. Costumes are modern dress and entirely black-and-white. Othello is played by a white actor, Thomas Thierne, without make-up; Emilia is played by a black actress; and all the acting is good – better than Zaimoglu and Senkel deserve.

But why on earth is the Royal Shakespeare Company bringing this complete rewrite to Stratford-upon-Avon as the one-and-only version of Othello in a Complete Works season? Shakespeare is easier to do in translation anyway (though I do not envy his translators), since actors are not obliged to make language that is four centuries old speak to modern audiences. But this nihilist version is a simplification of Shakespeare’s play that is both cheap and distorting. The play ends with Othello killing Desdemona; he does not even discover that she is innocent, and he does not take his own life. All the sense of huge, tragic fall that makes Othello so extraordinarily difficult a role has been carefully excised. All the play’s imagery and poetry have gone too: in their place is obscenity, which is extensive and truly diverse. The language goes further than Shakespeare in making it evident that Othello is black: Iago’s nastiness includes gross racism – his nicknames for Othello include “Choco”. So Iago’s evil is more obvious, but since Othello is foul-mouthed and unchivalrous too, Zaimoglu and Senkel have no sympathy for either of them.

Is there any point to this Complete Works season anyway? It is certainly not complete. There are no performances of Cardenio, Edward III or Sir Thomas More, even though the RSC has chosen in other seasons to acknowledge Shakespeare’s contribution to the latter two. Since the RSC has no London home, the Complete Works season is certainly saying “Come to Stratford-upon-Avon”. But why should anyone come to Stratford-upon-Avon to see a German-language production so way “after” Shakespeare as to miss the bus altogether? ★★☆☆☆

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