Saw this at Milton Keynes last night. It was my third Lear. Thought Derek Jacobi's towering Lear was superb and Gradage's direction great but, alas, am at a bit of a loss as to know how critics could think the rest of the cast were also superb. I thought Paul Jesson's Gloucester was very weak and didn't compare in any way shape or form to David Bradley's brilliant portrayal of the same role in the 1993/94 RSC production. I was also was immensely disappointed in Gina McKee's performance as Goneril. She seemed to be playing "Shakespeare by numbers." At times I even found it hard to hear what she was saying. Alec Newman as Edmund could also do with working on the old adage that sometimes, less, is more....
Glad I got to see the masterful Jacobi in what must be the greatest of Shakespearean roles. Was just so sorry to have left the theatre feeling distinctly underwhelmed. Maybe the production just didn't transfer well from the intimacy of the Donmar to a larger theatre. - Claire Wilson
20 Mar 11
Maybe you had to be there, but I saw the simulcast with a group of about 20 others last night, and we were all underwhelmed. On the screen, the spotty walls and floor were - as one man said - like "German expressionist torture," and this was NOT the definitive Lear or anything like it. The cast was competent, but no performance or moment really stood out as something I'd pay to see again. I like Jacobi very much and have seen him do brilliant things, but his Lear simply didn't move me. I never forgot I was watching actors, and there should be at least a few moments in a great play where you do get swept up in it. I really was quite astonished that this was announced - as part of the simulcast - as being probably the "greatest Lear of all time." Well, nothing could live up to that hype, but it didn't even live up to the three or four other performances I have seen personally. - Peggy
25 Feb 11
I count myself privileged, & I don't use the word lightly,to have attended a live transmission in a cinema of this production last week.I know the play well (in so far as you can ever know a Shakespeare play well) & have seen most London & RSC productions since the 1970s...also the Olivier TV & the 2 film versions (Paul Scofield/Peter Brook & the excellent Russian version with music by Shostakovich).There will never be a definitive "Lear",of course, but I would rate this among the very highest...only Ian Holm's performance at the NT some years ago would join it.The cast was practically faultless in my opinion & combined with a straightforward ungimmicky production letting the actors,through the words,get on with the darkest & finest tragedy in the English language....what more can be said?I hope to goodness someone has videod it for DVD release...er...without the technical hitch caused by the satellite signal breakdown!! - John
08 Feb 11
A truly mesmorizing performance by Jacobi and superb support from the ensemble. This is a perfect production of lear; the lack of stage adornments allows the production to flow and the swelling musicality of the interweaving scenes to be fully realised. This Lear must be seen. - James H
14 Jan 11
Bloody families…..A King Lear that comes in at under 3 hours! I have to confess, I can’t see where the cuts are and it makes a big difference to the pacing – this Lear races along. It’s a difficult play for me because I find it hard to understand why Lear rejects Cordelia and don’t find the subsequent relationship breakdown with the other daughters entirely plausible, but it’s still a fascinating and complex play. The Donmar has planks covering the floor, ceiling and all four sides; they’re a distressed white, though it doesn’t take long before there’s blood on the walls – literally (well, stage blood). The only props are the map and a chair; the costumes are excellent. Michael Grandage’s staging and Christopher Oram’s design allow the drama to unfold and the verse to breathe. This is an exceptionally well cast production. I was particularly impressed by all three Gloucesters – Paul Jesson’s believable journey as the Duke, Alec Newman’s positively evil Edmund and Gwilym Lee’s sympathetic Edgar. The daughters – Gina McKee as Goneril , Justine Mitchell’s Regan and Pippa Bennett-Warner as Cordelia – took a while to get into their stride but in the second half McKee and Mitchell were appropriately vituperative. I think Derek Jacobi is my 7th Lear – an illustrious list that includes Anthony Hopkins, Robert Stephens, Brian Cox, Ian Holm, Ian McKellen & Pete Postlethwaite – and I’ve liked them all. He’s particularly good at anger – going bright red, croaking and breathless – and grief, but less convincing in the early scenes of madness. I still haven’t forgiven the Donmar for abandoning the performance one week earlier just 15 minutes into a power cut and then offering no alternative. I owe my second chance to a friend, who knew of my disappointment when offered her cousin’s spare ticket. - Gareth James
12 Jan 11
WOS get it right, the one star here was for another play! This Lear was competent. Gina McKee glided through it all as if she had mistaken the Valium jar for the Smartie jar. I love her to bits but she was out of place in this as was Regan, Justin Mitchell, whose voice was so weak I wasn't sure if she had a problem with it or that she is not cut out for stage work and this in the tiny Donmar. Jacobi did his stuff well enough, but more the bossy head teacher filling in than a truly affecting Lear. I was lucky enough to see Pete Postlethwaite at the Young Vic not so long ago - a definitive Lear if ever there was one. I can't imagine why this production is getting such good write ups? Never mind there's always a next time. - rds.
08 Jan 11
Michael Grandage has used the intimacy of a bare Donmar stage to strip away all the grandiose statecraft of Trevor Nunn's RSC production to focus on the series of family tragedies which are at the heart of King Lear. The lack of a clearer political context slightly confuses the sudden transformation of Regan and Goneril into vicious haridans seeking the death of their father and they are given unusually understated performances by Gina McKee and Justine Mitchell. However, this is a beautifully clear and sensitive production with a staggering performance from Derek Jacobi as Lear. He plays him as a man who is aware of his self-inflicted loneliness and descent into madness and gives a pitiful and unusually pitiable Lear and we share his harrowing grief at the loss of Cordelia. However, Jacobi is one of those eccentrics who believe that a grammar school boy from Stratford could not possibly have written such great plays. By the same token it could be argued that a state school boy from the East End could not possibly find the level of insight to give such a memorable performance. On the way home it struck me that if I have around 20 years of active theatre-going left I may never see a better production of one of the greatest plays in the English language. - David Baxter
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