David Oyelowo and Daniel Craig have been cast to play the protagonists in a New York stage production of William Shakespeare's classic drama Othello.

The two Brits will portray Othello and Iago in the off-Broadway New York Theater Workshop next year (16), according to the New York Times.

Tony Award winner Sam Gold will direct the production.

"I've been wanting to do Shakespeare for a long time - it's what started me as a director," he says, "I've almost done Shakespeare a number of times in the past few years, but it hasn't worked out. Finally, the right thing came together."