“King Lear” – William Shakespeare
by richibi
“Study for King Lear“ (1760)
________
though it has its weaknesses, I have
never seen a better version of “King
Lear” than this one, also, to my mind,
Shakespeare’s best play
Lear has always been a difficult
character to portray, a King becomes a
vagrant, a Jesus figure, “a man / more
sinned against than sinning”, and the
most difficult part an actor must render,
I’ve found, is that of social status
and here we have both extremes, a not
easy transition, nor have I seen but once
a Lear I could believe in
James Earl Jones in New York’s Central
Park is Lear from the word go, but the
rest of the cast betrays him, they all
mostly merely phone in their roles
in this alternate production, the reverse
is true, Lear, though in many moments
mighty, is never really a King, nor truly,
I think, a Jesus, though his final breaths
are nothing short of holy
Cordelia speaks her lines well, but
doesn’t breathe them
every other performer is magnificent,
with a special mention for the truly
human Fool, not merely a caricature
here, but a wise man
also Kent, the vitriolic sisters, Edgar
and his ignominious brother Edmund,
even the several messengers, all of
whom intently and forcefully to a one
live out their roles
the direction is thrillingly manifest in
the solid and detailed work of the cast,
note, for instance, Regan’s laugh, an
inspired directorial touch, when Lear
declares his intention to bequeath
his land according to which of the
daughter’s “doth love Us most”,
relaying in an instant, and at the very
start, her fundamental, and thereafter,
of course, unswerving, unfilial scorn
I’ve never seen that note played
elsewhere so incisively
mostly, however, it’s the poetry of
Shakespeare, which bristles throughout,
like buds in spring in a garden, which ‘ll
especially delight, and have you marvel
Richard
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