LENOX, Mass. — Shakespeare and Company is offering one of the most courageous performances of the season. In the title role of “Othello,” John Douglas Thompson gives powerful, poignant voice to the “noble Moor.” He is vastly human and, at the same time, every bit the towering, tragic hero of Shakespeare’s great plays.

At the play’s end on Saturday afternoon, he embraced his pain so completely that his audience became spellbound. One might say, “There wasn’t a dry eye in the house.” Such honesty in the performance of Shakespeare is rare.

Universal theme

It should be added that “Othello” is often the most successfully acted of all Shakespeare’s plays. The drama is perfectly constructed (despite the much-studied problem of “dilatory time”), and the theme is universal; jealousy in love is a common human failing.

Othello is a professional soldier. He is, therefore, committed to duty. When he marries Desdemona (Merritt Janson), a young woman who travels in the best of Venetian circles, he believes her to be the perfect specimen of wifely duty. It is only when his friend and fellow soldier, “honest” Iago (Michael Hammond), falsely suggests that she might be unfaithful that Othello begins to question his own judgment.

Iago is one of Shakespeare’s most subtle villains, and his motives are stated in the first lines of the play. He has been overlooked for a promotion and he professes that he hates the Moor. Hammond plays beautifully against the malignancy of Iago’s charges. He gives the character humor and humanity and always seems to know more than he reveals. Leroy McClain gives a masterful performance as his rival Cassio, the elegant Florentine who has “never set a squadron in the field.” It is Cassio, Iago suggests, who has stolen Desdemona’s affections. When her handkerchief is found in Cassio’s possession, Othello becomes aware that he must do his duty as he understands it. He must kill the faithless Desdemona.

Director Tony Simotes wisely places Desdemona in the role of the vapid, innocent center of intrigue. Her murder at the end of the play, therefore, becomes a senseless act of violence. Had she been bolder or wiser or calmer, she might have reminded Othello that there was no time imbedded in the events of the story for her and Cassio to have a romance. But then the dynamics of the story would have changed and the tragedy would not have reached the depth that it is given in this production.

Strong supporters

Kristin Wold plays Emilia, Iago’s wife and Desdemona’s tiring woman, with a feisty energy. Her scene at the end of the play where she recognizes her husband’s fiendish nature is touching and terrible. She builds it to perfection.

Elizabeth Aspenlieder performs the thankless role of Bianca, Cassio’s “lady of the evening.” She gives the part heft and breadth. She is both vulnerable and proud.

This production is an absolute must-see.