Is This Why Othello Tickets Are So Expensive?

Photo: Valerie Terranova/Getty Images

You may have heard that tickets for the Broadway production of Othello, starring Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal, are going for as much as $921. While some have speculated that price is fueled by A-list actor salaries, big demand, and a high production budget, I have a feeling something else is going on. What’s really costing so much? There’s the rest of the cast, the crew, and, of course, the total renovation of Gyllenhaal’s dressing room. To quote a different Shakespearean tragedy: Aye, there’s the rub.

Gyllenhaal recently gave Architectural Digest a tour of his lavish dressing room. If you’re thinking, He probably brought in his own couch and a fun lamp from home, you’d be wrong. According to AD, the actor brought in designers Ruby Kean and Lisa Jones of Atelier LK to help him make over the space where he gets into costume and does his vocal warm-ups. Kean told the magazine that they all wanted a room that was “narrative-driven, but also something that would be very comfortable for him that he could really retreat into.”

So, what exactly does one do to make a room narrative-driven? Well, the wallpaper is giant blown-up photos of Venice, where the play originally takes place (per some reviews, the current production seems a little confused about where the action is happening). There’s a handmade chess set as an ode to the “calculated gameplay” of Iago, Gyllenhaal’s character. If he wants to play a game, Gyllenhaal and his companion can sit in a pair of chairs — one light, one dark — that are meant to represent the racial themes of the play. “I would never claim to try and be a dramaturge here, but I do think the materials that [Jones and Kean] picked — both soft and tough, the danger, and the comfort — all these juxtapositions are very, very right for the themes of Othello,” Gyllenhaal said.

Now, hey, maybe Gyllenhaal paid for this himself. Maybe he’s the one who dropped $9,200 on a Sophie Lou Jacobsen Tulipa lamp, or maybe it’s just a loaner for the 15-week run. Someone had to pay for this, though, and whoever did is just lighting money on fire. Gyllenhaal isn’t even spending that much time in his dressing room. “Denzel’s made his way up there a couple of times, but just through the nature of him being the general, I tend to go to his room,” he told the magazine. Still, he has hopes that his investment will pay off soon: “When time comes and we’re in our run and we get to come in at 5 or 6 for an 8 p.m. show, I hope we’ll hang out there a lot more.” Here’s hoping!