Brian Cox criticises $1000 ticket prices for Denzel Washington’s ‘Othello’: “That’s wrong”

Brian Cox has spoken out against the incredibly high cost of tickets for Broadway shows.

As reported by the Daily Mail, during a talk at a London theatre, Succession star Cox criticised the expensive prices of tickets to see the new Broadway staging of Othello, starring Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal.

He said: “There’s amazing shows and hits, but there’s too much money stuff involved in American theatre, where apparently you’re paying $1,000 (£751) a night to see Othello with Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal, who I hear is not particularly wonderful.

“A friend of mine said they couldn’t believe it, and they paid a fuckload. Excuse me, that’s wrong. That balance is wrong because it puts the theatre in a whole different place.”

This latest version of Othello opened on March 23, and tickets currently range from $414 (£311) to $955 (£718) according to the show’s website, with a limited number of $49 student spots available.

Gyllenhaal recently participated in an interview with fellow stage star Audra McDonald for a Broadway edition of Variety’s ‘Actors On Actors’, in which McDonald jokingly told the Donnie Darko actor: “I’m desperate to see [your show]. Also, I can’t afford to come to your show.”

Othello’s director Kenny Leon has defended the ticket prices. Speaking to the Daily Mail, he said: “To me, with a commercial industry, people are paying what they think it’s worth. A guy showed up the other night and he said, “I paid $921 (£691) for this ticket and you know what? I don’t want a cent back. I want to figure out how to come back.”

He continued: “That’s what I feel proud of every night. I have 1,000 people in there and it’s so diverse. I have young people, I have people that are all economic ranges. We have student tickets for this show. We have digital lotteries everyday. I’m proud of the box office and I’m proud of what’s on the stage.”

Cox is a veteran actor on the stage as well as the screen, appearing in multiple Shakespeare productions in his decades-long career, and has performed on both Broadway and London’s West End.

During his talk, he went on to compare the theatrical infrastructure in the UK and the US, saying: “The British structure is pretty phenomenal, and it’s getting better. My sadness about America is that there isn’t a structure. There’s amazing shows and it hits it, but there’s too much money stuff involved.

“I always feel sorry for American actors, they don’t have those roots. And I think it’s a shame, because the talent is un-bloody-believable in America. I mean, the talent, particularly in the musical world, it’s really incredible. But it’s not served by the institution. And I think that’s rather sad for American actors. I feel that very strongly.”

Cox is renowned for being outspoken and unafraid to share his opinions. In February, he defended actor Kevin Spacey, who has been accused of sexual misconduct by more than 30 men since 2017, and condemned the idea of public figures being ‘cancelled’.

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