Power Play

On Broadway, Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal star in an Othello for the ages. They talk to Maya Singer about its themes of faith, love, battle, and betrayal.

- Maya Singer

We're talking about faith. Last December, just before Christmas, actor Denzel Washington was baptized and licensed as a minister, and so it hasn't taken long, chatting about his return to Broadway playing the title role in Othello, for conversation to turn to matters of belief. Not religious, per se; Shakespeare's great tragedy turns on themes of love and jealousy and betrayal. Perhaps, I muse, Othello's choice to trust the evidence of his eyes—a planted handkerchief—over his innocent wife Desdemona's protests that she has never strayed is a kind of loss of faith, a misguided embrace of rationality over spirit. “Well, sure, he wants proof,” pipes up Jake Gyllenhaal, who costars in the production as Iago, planter of the aforementioned handkerchief, “and Iago keeps leading him back to the handkerchief—look, look!—but the only reason he can manipulate Othello that way is that they have a bond. They've fought together, trusted each other with their lives. He knows this is a man with a great sense of faith and love.”

“Mm-hmm,” adds Washington. Meanwhile, he's picked up a thick binder and is flicking through it. We're in a small Midtown office a few minutes' walk from the Barrymore Theatre, where the two actors will be performing in Othello through June 8—one of the starriest outings in what is shaping up to be a very starry Broadway season. In an hour or so, the pair is due at the theater for a meeting with the play’s director, Broadway veteran Kenny Leon, who staged a revival of Our Town at the Barrymore just last fall. Rain is pelting down outside as we chat, and Gyllenhaal seems to be keeping half an eye on it as he continues ruminating. “But Iago also knows, Desdemona—she’s something new for Othello. Which makes him vulnerable.”

“He's not experienced putting all his cards on the table for one woman,” Washington chimes in, still focused on his binder.

“He's been at war,” adds Gyllenhaal.