According to the London Evening Standard tickets to see Ewan McGregor in Othello at the Donmar Warehouse are changing hands for more than a grand.
This presents the Whingers with something of a dilemma.
On the one hand, they were looking forward to seeing Ewan McGregor blacked up for the part in the great tradition of such fine actors as Orson Welles (left) and Larry Olivier (see below) although we can’t work out what part Chiwetel Ejiofor is playing.
On the other hand, the Whingers seem to be sitting on something of a goldmine. Selling their four tickets would apparently net them £,4800.
According to the article “The only tickets left for the 12-week run are for day seats and standing places. Donmar’s box office prices range from £15 to £29 for the production but online the average price for a resale ticket is £1,220.”
However, looking at eBay, someone in Pwllheli is selling two in an auction which ends in less than 24 hours and the starting bid is just 99p. These tickets have a few days to go and at £46 are a relative bargain.
On the other hand, this pair has three days to go and is currently at £255.
Hmmm. What to do?
Well, is it any good as a play?
According to the Donmar’s website, this is what the play is about:
Defying society in order to pursue her heart, Desdemona marries Othello, a Moorish General, and follows him to Cyprus where he must repel the threat of Turkish invasion. Iago, a junior officer tormented by his lack of promotion, sets out to destroy their love and manipulate Othello to serve his own ends.
On that basis, it’s not really pushing the Whingers’ buttons, we have to admit.
We’ll have to think about it.
In the meantime, here’s a photo of Larry and Maggie Smith to accompany the National’s archive version of Kenneth Tynan’s “The Actor and the Moor”
A West End Whinger 
Wednesday 21 November 2007 at 11:42 pm
On an entirely unrelated subject, you can add Charles Spencer to the list of British critics who are refusing to do the ‘du:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/11/21/btbroadway121.xml
Thursday 22 November 2007 at 9:27 am
“Oh no NOT Othello!!”
Thursday 22 November 2007 at 10:28 am
My attempt to book online for Othello on October 15 ended in failure. The ATG website was very slow but I don’t think that was the problem. Several times I got as far as selecting a date but then the seating plan failed to load on my screen. Presumably you had more luck. After 90 minutes I had to give up. Possibly (nay, certainly) your computer has something that mine hasn’t.
Thursday 22 November 2007 at 10:37 am
Ah, well, you see, the difference is that we pay good money to be “friends” with the Donmar and get to book tickets before the hoi palloi get their grubby hands on them.
Actually, it’s not terribly friendly friendship.
Thursday 22 November 2007 at 3:11 pm
Statler did it the old fashioned way and phoned. We’d had similar problems with the website not loading so he let his fingers do the talking.
He now keeps looking at the prices on eBay…
I’ve now got to be nice to him until February in case he flogs them. I should remove them from the fridge door and put them somewhere safe, but our track record on that isn’t good. As I have a tendency to forget where the safe place was.
What is interesting is the stats for our blog show a large number of hits for people googling for donmar othello ebay tickets Ewan McGregor and various mispellings of Chiwetel Ejiofor.
Thursday 22 November 2007 at 5:43 pm
Waldorf you may well think that Statler did things the old fashioned way but you used the telephone.
If you want old fashioned then beat this kiddo, I got someone else to queue up from 8:30 on the morning that public sale started and then I got him to pay for the tickets as well. That’s what I call old fashioned.
Thursday 22 November 2007 at 8:44 pm
i just spent four hours on the internet. it beat going doing some work…
Thursday 22 November 2007 at 10:35 pm
I may have done it the old fashioned way – had the same issues as John trying the online booking and then found the phone lines constantly engaged – but ‘Say no to 0870’ was my friend and got me through first time. I like to think of it as the ‘smart’ way myself. Useful tip for the future though…
Saturday 24 November 2007 at 12:27 am
Damn. I was thinking about raking in the riches from my Masque tickets, but now I’m hearing the siren call of sloughing off Othello, too, even though the whole reason I joined the Donmar was to get tickets for this show! When did I become so craven?
Wednesday 28 November 2007 at 11:10 pm
Waldorf, I’m getting the same type of hits on my blog too.
And even though I could really really do with a couple of thousand quid, I’m not selling my tickets
Wednesday 5 December 2007 at 2:59 pm
Went to the Donmar to see Othello, openeing night, Michelle Fairley second half, ran away with the show, it was one of the most amazing things i ever seen.