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Succession star Brian Cox has hit out at the cost of tickets to see Denzel Washington in a new production of Shakespeare’s Othello on Broadway, and slated the performance of Washington’s co-star, Jake Gyllenhaal.
The show at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre has already broken box office records to become the highest-grossing Broadway play ever, raking in $2.8 million in previews in a single week. This is partly down to the cost of tickets, which range from $544 to $995.
The Daily Mail reports that during a talk at a London theatre, Cox remarked about the state of the business: “There's amazing shows and hits, but there’s too much money stuff involved in American theatre where apparently, you’re paying $1,000 a night to see Othello with Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal, who I hear is not particularly wonderful.”
The 78-year-old Scottish actor went on to say that a friend who’d seen the show had been left stunned by the high price and the lack of quality on offer. “A friend of mine said they couldn't believe it, and they paid a f***load,” said Cox. “Excuse me, that's wrong. That balance is wrong because it puts the theatre in a whole different place.”
Cox added that he felt Washington could be good in the title role, but said he had doubts about Gyllenhaal’s ability to play the ambitious lieutenant Iago: “I mean, I've got nothing against Denzel Washington, good luck. And I think he should do it. I would like to direct him so you can get it right. Jake Gyllenhaal is another problem.”
He argued that British theatre is in better shape than its American counterpart, saying: “The British structure is pretty phenomenal, and it's getting better… My sadness about America is that there isn't a structure.”
Cox’s comments come after the Broadway revival of Othello received mixed reviews from critics, many of whom took issue with the modernization of the production.
“Given the visibly well-heeled nature of the audience at the performance I attended, and the slick, contemporary attire used in Kenny Leon’s production, as designed by Dede Ayite, I felt at times like I was watching an immersive, militarized version of Billions, or Succession,” Chris Jones wrote for New York Daily News.
Jones found that casting 70-year-old Washington opposite Osborne, 27, as Othello’s lover Desdemona, created more of a “paternalistic” dynamic. “You don’t feel much of a sexual connection between Othello and Desdemona,” he added, which he said “fights the play.”
The New York Times’s Jesse Green, meanwhile, hailed Gyllenhaal’s “eely take” on Iago, arguing that “this Othello offers an Iago far more legible than his master.”
Green additionally took issue with “Leon’s decision to set the action ‘in the near future,’” adding: “In short, as I felt the production’s blunt force more and more, I grasped its aura and aims less and less.”
Othello runs now through July 8 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on Broadway.
English (US) ·