¶KING LEAR

by Anna Moraitis, May 2001.

I saw King Lear on Saturday and on Sunday.

The first part includes the first three acts and is two hours long, then

there is a 15' interval followed by the last two acts that take another

hour. Apparently Mark Rylance is considering moving the interval forward,

but in my opinion it works fine as it is. This way you accelerate into the

big drama from the slower paced initial formal court scenes towards the

blinding of Gloucester at a high speed and have the full impact of that

cruel violence. After that you get the breathing-sitting-down-exhaling

interval.

I think the shock works best with no interval until the end of Act 3.

And as the action accelerates you don't notice your tiredness anyway. Being

physically exhausted or at least physically involved (even by just

standing) is part of the enjoyment of being a Groundling for me.

Anyway, faint quietly if you must.

The actors are fantastic and the whole production very powerful. I was

surprised by so many talented interpretations from almost all major and

most minor parts - delightful personalities emerge, even in the parts of

random messengers, old men, concerned servants, rowdy soldiers etc. I found

it a sheer pleasure how much effort, pride and love these actors put into

their roles even if they are only a few lines long.

King Lear and Edmund the Bastard are for me the perfect casting - this is

exactly how I imagined the characters to be; they convince and move me. I

also enjoyed especially the Fool (Enobarbus, we love you!) and Edgar.

Since KL - interestingly enough - does not use the Globe's balcony or

trapdoors or anything to that effect, the production uses the yard a lot ,

which is ideal for having Lear returning loudly with his soldiers from a

hunt, having people arrive from afar and various other dramatic exits and

entrances. You couldn't have "unruly" soldiers arriving from behind the

stage and each having three steps max on the stage to demonstrate their

"unruliness". The yard is ideal with all the Groundlings lurking about.

Also when messengers arrive from this distance they have to push through

the crowd and this struggle makes their lines convincing when they describe

how hard their travel was!

The storm scene plays so wonderfully in the open air! Screaming

hysterically at the top of your lungs in a proscenium arch does not do it

for me - it can even get embarrassing at times -  but at the Globe, ah!

What joy!!

Lear needs to command the elements, and command he does! Later on the line

"Every INCH a King" makes me melt with its radiant authority and splendor.

But as I said, this Lear persona is for me the definitive Lear so I am

biased.

One thing I did not like was the last act when they bring Lear out sitting

on a throne on a pedestal. Cordelia stands behind him and looks at him

upside down from the top of his head, so the "my Lord do you know me?" for

me deserves the response "Nope! I am looking at your face hanging upside

down and it makes me dizzy".

Also the significance of "No, my Lord, you must not KNEEL" is lost, as Lear

does not even get a chance to do so. But hey, the pedestal with its candles

at least looks good.

I noticed for the first time how few soliloquies KL actually has, a very

action driven play and all the aphorisms are very condensed but more

poignant being so.

The set is very rough and is used physically a lot - lots of hitting,

banging, rolling on the ground and such - some very well staged fighting

scenes, so much bravery and abandon from the actors in the battle scenes!

The costumes develop throughout the play, very clever, towards the end very

period-less, or maybe not? See what you think! (some funky sunglasses that

Goneril has though!)

I love the sound of the whole production, the voices really reaching out to

embrace all of us and yet using the nuances and subtleties at the tender or

profound moments. Very engaging, very moving and lots of fun this KL!

It's going to be a great summer!