King Lear - Antony Sher at the RSC

Antony Sher's King Lear originally played at Stratford 2 years ago, and has returned after a US tour.I missed it the first time round, so decided to go this time, and in Stratford-Upon-Avon for the matinee on Saturday

It's a big, bold production - Lear presents as a feudal lord,surrounded by a medieval-styled cast. His first entrance comes as he is carried in, enthroned, wearing a huge, fur, gown and (somewhat bizarrely) seated inside a perspex box (which detracts a little from the early medieval feel of the rest of the props and costumes. 

It means that his curses upon his daughter feel believable - both he, and Goneril,(Nia Gwynne) seem genuinely to believe that his curse has force, that the gods will listen, and his bewilderment when this doesn't make her back down is palpable.


Buom Tihnbang was an excellent Edmund,and David Troughton, as Gloucester, is also an excellent choice. 

I was less taken with the random, unspeaking characters on stage - homeless 'poor wretches' pointing up Lear's speech in the storm scene, (and incidentally, responsible for the death of the Fool, left behind when Gloucester intervenes to send Lear to Dover) They didn't seem to add much to the performance, it felt more that the director didn't trust us to understand the text without them!

Over all, however, well worth seeing. I'm glad I went (I believe the run is now over)

King Lear at Chichester

I saw, back in March, the Sir Ian McKellen would be appearing as King Lear, in Chichester, this autumn, so of course as soon as tickets went on sale I booked, as it seemed to me to be an opportunity not to be missed. I've seen him previously, in The Syndicate,  Waiting for Godot, and more recently in No Man's Land, as well as seeing his one man show earlier this year, but I've never previously seen him live in any Shakespeare.

It was a long wait between booking and seeing the play, but on Saturday evening we finally got to see it!

It was my first visit to the Minerva Theatre in Chichester - it's small, seating around 280 people, and for this production at least, the stage is a red-carpeted circle, out in the auditorium.

Our seats were in the front row, right at one end, which meant we had an excellent, close up view of the action, albeit sometimes at a bit of on angle!

The play opens in Lear's palace, as King Lear (Ian McKellen) announces his plan to divide his kingdom. He stands at a flag-decked lectern, in full uniform, in front of a massive portrait of himself.

Initially jovial, cheerily cutting the map of the country up to pass to his daughters, he then, of course,  quickly turns on his daughter, Cordelia, (Tamara Lawrence) for her honesty. It's interesting to note that in this production, Lear then hands the additional sections of the map, not to Regan (Kirsty Bushell) and Goneril (Dervla Kirwan), but to their respective husbands...

Credit: MANUEL HARLAN

The cast over all is very strong - I particularly enjoyed Damien Molony's Edmund, whose scheming and dastardly behaviour was a pleasure to watch.

Sinead Cusack was Kent, and in disguising herself to follow Lear, disguised herself as a man (which makes the whole 'Neither King Lear or his daughters recognise someone who has been his trusted counsellor for years' thing, marginally more believable).

Lear's '100' knights were bread-roll throwing, tweed and Burberry-clad hooray Henries, and it was easy to sympathise with Regan and Goneril's wish to be rid of them, despite the terms agreed with their father. 

The size of the theatre mean that this production was very intimate, and allowed the soliloquies to be incredibly conversational.

The storm scene was ... damp - and very effective. Vast quantities of rain falling, drenching Lear, Gloucester, the fool, and Edgar, and leaving those of us in the front rows a little damp, as mist drifted our way, and trickles of water overflowing from the stage became streams...

It really emphasised Lear's vulnerability, but also the beginnings of his own humanity, as he tried to cover Edgar/Poor Tom with his coat, and in turn, Kent's care of Lear. (although I have to admit that I was slightly distracted by wondering whether being drenched with cold water for such an extended period could really be good for poor Ian McKellen; he's not as young as he was!) 

In the second half, the red carpet was gone from the stage, leaving it white concrete (all the better for stamping on eyeballs in a squelchy way)and of course things go rapidly downhill for almost everyone.

McKellen's Lear was increasingly vulnerable and human, as his mind and body fail. The closing scenes, as he was reunited with, then mourned for, Cordelia, were very moving. 

In short, it was pretty damn good. I've seen the Ian McKellen has now said this may be his last major Shakespearean role. I hope it isn't, but I am very glad I had the chance to see it - not only for McKellen himself, but also because it was a such a strong cast, I don't think there was a single weak link. 

The run has now ended (and was sold out, in any case) - otherwise I'd be urging everyone to go to see it. But I shall be looking out for Tamara Lawrence and Damien Molony in future....

King Lear - A Return to the Stage

As Glenda Jackson has been working as an MP for the past 25 years, meaning I have never before had the opportunity to see her live on stage, so when I saw that she was playing Lear, I immediately booked a ticket.

Closer to the performance, more cast members were announced - Celia Imrie and Jane Horrocks as Goneril and Regan, respectively, Rhys Ifans as the fool, and Harry Melling as Edgar... 

It was an interesting production - it's in modern dress, with fairly minimal sets, and the practice which seems to be popular just now, of having cast members and stage hands on stage as the audience come in to the auditorium, and a blurring of lines between cast and crew.  

For much of the play, there is very little in the way of set, although this changes in the storm scenes, when  curtain of black plastic, together with lights and sound effects - very effective!

And the performance itself? 

Very very good, in parts, but uneven. 

Jackson's Lear is physically frail from the start, but terrifyingly powerful in every other way, an aging despot, whose mental state then gradually deteriorates during the play, showing the slow ruin of the old king more effectively than many Lears - her delivery of "O, let me not be mad, not mad, sweet heaven, Keep me in temper: I would not be mad!"  is heart-breaking. Lear is far from being a likeable character, but Jackson is an excellent Lear. 

Jane Horrocks and Celia Imrie as Regan and Goneril seem underused, for such excellent actors, and there was little sense of the daughters' frustration or the justifications for their treatment of their father, leaving them as slightly one-dimensional villains, which was a bit disappointing. Although they do get the chance to show their vamping skills in their scenes with Edmund (Simon Manyonda).

Edmund himself is full of energy and malevolence - he delivers his opening speech while working out, skipping, doing one-handed press-ups. And without it affecting his delivery of the speech at all, which is pretty impressive. However, as with other aspects of the production, having started well, the director goes  step too far, and we have a scene in which he bares his buttock (and they are, I admit, nice buttocks) to the audience while he has a quick wank. It seemed somewhat unnecessary.


Edgar (Harry Melling) is good, but he seem ineffectual in his early scenes, and the Dover scene, (not) on the cliff top seems a wasted opportunity.

Rhys Ifans is excellent as the Fool, and the relationship between him and Lear is one of the most convincing in the production, he comes over as genuinely attached to Lear, but unafraid to challenge him. And his little ad-libs - a snatch of Dylan on mouth-organ and a comment on Edgar's bin-bag couture which I am pretty sure isn't in the original text!

So, all in all, a good production with some great performances, but with some odd directorial choices. I mean, stamping in Gloucester's eyeball, properly wince-inducing. Throwing the second one into the stalls? Not so much. 

4 out of 5 stars from me! Well worth seeing. And on until 3rd December (And there is a radio adaptation to be recorded and broadcast by the BBC on Boxing Day, if you can't make it to London)

King Lear

Several months back, before I knew when I would be moving, I arranged with a couple of friends that we would meet up to see 'King Lear' at the National Theatre.

I don't think I would have planned to have a day trip to London 10 days after moving house, but in fact, it worked pretty well.

I got the train into London (I shall have to get used to not having a railway station within walking distance, anymore. It means you have to pay for parking) and met up with J and J on the South Bank, after an uneventful journey (unless you count meeting a Bride and Groom, in full wedding gear, getting off the tube at Waterloo, as an event!)

We enjoyed a glass of bubbly (to celebrate J and J's recent wedding, and my recent house move) and then a relaxed and enjoyable lunch, before making our way into the theatre.

We had seats up in the circle, but with an excellent view of the stage. 

King Lear is not a play that I have seen very often, although I did see a fantastic production, with Derek Jacobi in the title role, a couple of years ago, and it's perhaps inevitable that I should compare the two.

I thought that this version had some excellent moments, but I did not find it as moving as  the Jacobi production. I think partly because there was more going on - big sets, lots of extras, which detracted from the central tragedy.

Lear starts out as a Stalin-like, dictatorial figure, surrounded by soldiers, (one thing which was lost in the broadcast, which I saw with  a different friend, a little later) compared to the live performance was that  the number of  'knights' reduced during the course of the play, slipping away unobtrusively as the King crossed the stage. (There were about 25 of them to start with) 

Edmund (Sam Troughton) is suitably villainous, deeply creepy - I should be interested to see him play Iago, in future! Poor Edgar (Tom Brooke) suitably mad (and noticeably a little less naked, in the broadcast, than the live performance!) and Simon Russell Beale is excellent - an unsympathetic, but ultimately pitiable figure.

When we saw there play, there was a slight hiccough as there was a problem with the scenery, which led to an unplanned hiatus while it was fixed. It came just after Edgar fled from the unjust allegations made against him, which seemed like a natural break point, so it did not detract from the play at all!

I enjoyed seeing the play a second time as a broadcast - it allowed me to consider some of the nuances, and interestingly, the habit of the film directors to zoom in in major scenes made it, to mind, more intense - there was some loss, in the lack of background characters, but it focussed the lay more closely on the main characters, adding to the intensity. Very interesting. I'm glad I saw it in both formats!