Which Shakespeare role will Philip Seymour Hoffman be playing in New York?”
Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman is to star in a New York stage production of Shakespeare’s Othello. The screen star, who won best actor for Capote, will portray the play’s villain Iago from 12 September. The Public Theater’s co-production will be staged in an 860-seater sports arena at New York University – a bigger space than it can usually offer. Seymour Hoffman has been nominated for two Tony Awards, and made his stage directorial debut in 2007 in Sydney. World premiere The 41-year-old actor has also appeared in a number of off-Broadway productions including Jesus Hopped The A Train and The Last Days of Judas Iscariot. Seymour Hoffman is a member of New York’s LAByrinth theatre company, which is co-producing Othello. John Ortiz, also a member of the company, will take the title role in the play. Seymour Hoffman most recently appeared on screen in Synecdoche, New York. He gained a nomination for best supporting actor at this year’s Academy Awards for playing a priest in Do
The Public Theater says Philip Seymour Hoffman is set to play Iago in an off-Broadway revival of “Othello” next season. An Oscar winner for the film “Capote,” Hoffman will star as one of Shakespeare’s most conniving villains in the production at New York University’s Skirball (SKUR’-ball) Center from Sept. 12 to Oct. 4. John Ortiz (OR’-tease), Hoffman’s longtime collaborator at the LAByrinth Theater, will play Othello. The production will be a joint presentation of the Public and LAByrinth. Also on the Public’s schedule for its 2009-2010 season are two world premieres: Richard Foreman’s “Idiot Savant,” starring Willem Dafoe, and “Snake” by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks.
