The voices are there, the orchestra and chorus excel, but this is not Verdi in the Italian grand opera tradition. Instead, what we have is a more nuanced psychological study where the dynamics of twisting relationships are as strongly in focus as Verdi’s magnificent score. The team that bought us ENO’s award winning Peter Grimes bring new insights (and some challenges) to this late masterpiece.

In general I liked Alden’s visceral production and its dark emotional and visual palate. The director sees a world of suppression and misogyny with Otello as a social, rather than racial, outsider. The decision to leave him as a white male is understandable and it works. Desdemona is more feisty than simpering and shows her potential as a political consort as well as dutiful wife. Iago is the loyal servant overlooked once too often for whom revenge is a dish definitely eaten cold. All this makes for some powerful music theatre and in Edward Gardner’s hands the effect is electrifying, not least in some wonderful orchestral playing and a powerful chorus. This is English National Opera at its best.

The visual unity of Adam Silverman’s stunning lighting design added both mood and dramatic tension to the...