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:

5 February 2009

Having seen Rupert Goold set The Tempest in an Arctic wasteland and Macbeth in Soviet Russia, it comes as little surprise to see King Lear clad in a floral dress twirling a parasol.

While I’d read about the excesses of the original Liverpool Everyman production, it’s still startling to see Edmund and Edgar’s fighting with plastic swords and the Fool performing Singing in the Rain. Goold said that he’d taken some of the comments on board – he’s ditched the controversial Maggie Thatcher opening speech for example, but this is still a patchy, uneven production, there are plenty of interesting ideas but there’s little sense of Lear’s descent into madness.

What’s more startling is the lack of any discussion about power – Pete Postlethwaite’s Lear in shirt, braces and raincoat seems less a king than a northern patriarch with some particularly troublesome daughters. He captures the fragility of the king as he grad...

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Latest User Review

rds - 18 March 2009:

Thrilling. I went somewhat apprehensively after hearing of poor reviews from Liverpool, where it started out, so what a relief it was to be blown away by this production. As someone else has said here it is a very clear production. Postlethwaite is a convincing and powerful Lear with wonderful moments of comic genius, whilst Tobias Menzies is a deeply affecting and memorable Edgar/Poor Tom. The daughters too were all finely portrayed and supported ably by the rest of the cast. I have seen a few Lears in my time, McKellan more recently, but this one stands out and will remain, I am sure, a bench mark for future productions....

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