King Lear

Synopsis

King Lear divides his Kingdom between his daughters according to a declaration of their love for him. His eldest Goneril and Regan exaggerate their affection and inherit. His youngest daughter Cordelia speaks only the truth and is banished. So begins the tragedy of King Lear, whose dignity, sanity and finally life are torn from him by a self-seeking younger generation, ambitious for his power. What is love, what is madness, what is truth - Shakespeare explores these questions together with many others in King Lear, widely considered to be his greatest tragedy.

Our Review:

18 May 2005

This year’s Chichester Festival theme focuses on ‘con artists’, and the obvious inference in presenting King Lear as part of the programme is that we should observe the way that Lear’s daughters con him out of his possessions. Given the average age of the audience of the West Sussex audience here, I’m sure that the filial slights and perceived ingratitude highlighted in the play must find many resonances.

But Steven Pimlott’s challenging production dwells less on the psychology of ageing and the frailty of family relations as much as on the power struggles within a British aristocracy, divided by loathing from the outset. This is a nakedly political interpretation, almost Brechtian in its use of the Fool’s songs to interrupt the action, Alison Chitty’s stark geometric set and Paul Pyant’s harsh white lighting.

Right from the start, we see Stephen Noonan’s nicely sardonic Edmond contemplating a map of England, waiting to be divided - we have a...

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Latest User Review

195.93.21.102) - 24 July 2005:

This production is outstanding. To have persuaded David Warner, one of the greatest Hamlets of his day, to play King Lear was a triumph in itself but the performance is remarkable. He moves effortlessly from the domineering king to a man of exceptional vulnerability. The deaths of Lear and Cordelia are the most deeply moving I have seen. There are are many other superb performances particularly John Ramm as a knowing and devoted Fool and Zoe Waites as a haunted Regan. Sensational. ...

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