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:

6 May 2008

After a flurry of Lear productions in modern dress, there’s a very old English theme to this production. Whether it’s Claire van Kampen’s haunting music (indeed, the songs are in Old English) or the greenery that dots the Globe’s open spaces, we’re reminded very much that this is a play that, of course, is set in a pre-Christian time and whose unremitting tragedy is a reminder that life is nasty, brutish and short and offers no glimpse of any Christian redemption. And if anyone has a romantic tendency to hark back to a vision of Merrie England, King Lear is always a hearty antidote to such views.

What I like about Dominic Drumgoole’s production is that draws on that yearning for a pastoral life - King Lear’s retinue could be blood brother’s to Duke Senior’s in the Forest of Arden – while emphasising the human tragedy. For example, we’re reminded that Edgar isn’t a lone beggar and that England was dotted with beggars who had been outcast from the so...

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Latest User Review

Beric Norman - 17 July 2008:

I wanted to see David Calder's Lear having so enjoyed his Shylock for the RSC at the Barbican a few years ago. I wasn't disappointed. I loved his jocular approach to dividing his kingdom, turning to dust and ashes when Cordelia refuses to play ball (not, apparently, realising the dire consequences) and he is as likeable a tyrant as I can remember. He's huge fun when evading his soldiers towards the play's end, and wonderfully moving when he finally comes. Danny Lee Wynter's Fool is more of a philosopher than a clown, Kelly Bright a memorably nasty Regan, Daniel Hawksford a handsome Edmund (but I've yet to see an actor make the utmost of this gift of a villain's role) while Trystan Gravelle can't be faulted as his brother. I couldn't see how the sombre ending (at least 5 corpses on stage) could develop into the Globe's traditional dance, but the trick is managed...

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