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shapinglightNeedless to say (I suppose?) I don't have a King Lear icon, so Tom H as Henry V will have to do.
Last night I went to see the National Theatre Live broadcast of King Lear, with Simon Russell Beale as the eponymous king.
I've never seen the play before, though I have read it, but I can't say I was looking forward to going exactly, because it's such a harrowing story. In particular, I've been scared of watching the blinding of Gloucester scene, and in fact still can't say I've seen it because when it began, I covered my face and elected not to watch at all.
Even so, the rest of the play was a tough watch. Simon Russell Beale played Lear as a man possibly in the early stages of a particular form of dementia, which worked very well to explain Lear's capriciousness at the beginning of the play and his tragic breakdown into vulnerability and madness. He had me thoroughly convinced. Kate Fleetwood and Anna Maxwell Martin, as Goneril and Regan respectively, were especially good, I thought - and very different to each other, with Goneril all purse-lipped repression and sexual frustration, and Regan a vicious flirt (she even flirts with her own father, which was quite horrible).
All the cast were pretty good, in fact (though not having seen the play before, I wouldn't know how they compare with other productions), but it's not a play I'll hurry to see again.
I went with a former work colleague, who also hadn't seen the play before, and unlike me, knew nothing about it. I had to stop myself from spoilering her because she asked me not to, but I really think knowing beforehand that the play is unrelieved misery pretty much from start to finish is probably better. Also, I had thought there wouldn't be such a big audience as there was for War Horse and Coriolanus, but the auditorium was packed.
Which is good. It means they'll go on showing these productions.
Last night I went to see the National Theatre Live broadcast of King Lear, with Simon Russell Beale as the eponymous king.
I've never seen the play before, though I have read it, but I can't say I was looking forward to going exactly, because it's such a harrowing story. In particular, I've been scared of watching the blinding of Gloucester scene, and in fact still can't say I've seen it because when it began, I covered my face and elected not to watch at all.
Even so, the rest of the play was a tough watch. Simon Russell Beale played Lear as a man possibly in the early stages of a particular form of dementia, which worked very well to explain Lear's capriciousness at the beginning of the play and his tragic breakdown into vulnerability and madness. He had me thoroughly convinced. Kate Fleetwood and Anna Maxwell Martin, as Goneril and Regan respectively, were especially good, I thought - and very different to each other, with Goneril all purse-lipped repression and sexual frustration, and Regan a vicious flirt (she even flirts with her own father, which was quite horrible).
All the cast were pretty good, in fact (though not having seen the play before, I wouldn't know how they compare with other productions), but it's not a play I'll hurry to see again.
I went with a former work colleague, who also hadn't seen the play before, and unlike me, knew nothing about it. I had to stop myself from spoilering her because she asked me not to, but I really think knowing beforehand that the play is unrelieved misery pretty much from start to finish is probably better. Also, I had thought there wouldn't be such a big audience as there was for War Horse and Coriolanus, but the auditorium was packed.
Which is good. It means they'll go on showing these productions.
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Date: 2014-05-02 02:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-05-02 06:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-05-02 04:02 pm (UTC)What was the Lear/Fool relationship like? That is one that is often done very beautifully.
My big problem with Lear is I never understand why Cordelia won't just tell him she loves him at the beginning, since she clearly does. And that kind of confuses the rest of the plot :D
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Date: 2014-05-02 06:27 pm (UTC)I don't blame you.
As for the Lear/Fool relationship, not sure what to say. I think it was very beautifully done. The Fool speaks hard truths that Lear never seems get angry about and there is obviously affection, especially from the Fool towards Lear. However, this production did something which has possibly not been done before (I don't know, as I say), in that they have Lear himself be the one who kills the Fool in a moment of madness, but then be unable to remember what happened, so when he says at the end, "My Fool is hanged," there's a hesitation, as if he's filling in a blank he knows to be blank. The Fool is dead, but he doesn't know why or how.
I think this version of the play made Cordelia refusing to say she loved Lear work quite well. He starts off playing a sort of despot, who has verged over into tyranny. All three daughters are clearly scared of him (Goneril and Regan don't start off entirely unsympathetic), but Cordelia feels she has to stand up to him.
I guess. Anyway I felt it worked.
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Date: 2014-05-02 04:08 pm (UTC)Good to hear that this was well supported though, as I think it's a fantastic initiative.
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Date: 2014-05-02 07:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-05-03 05:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-05-04 02:44 pm (UTC)