This paper analyses the 1949 and 1954 productions of Othello in the Budapest National Theatre, in order to seek out specific manifestations of the sovietisation of theatre. The performances were directed by Kálmán Nádasdy and Tamás Major, who had access to Stanislavski’s master copy of Othello, and chose to follow the practice of the era and commissioned a new translation of the play’s text. The struggle and the changing relationship between the characters thus became a symbol for class struggle, and conseequently the reviews and the remembrance of the performances almost exclusively focused on the hierarchical relations revealed within the roles.