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Post by Deleted on Sept 4, 2016 19:28:38 GMT
I think they're both perfectly respectable actors, but I've never seen them really do anything different from role to role so fully sympathise with anyone else who finds either or both of them overrated.  |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 4, 2016 21:24:49 GMT
I've never seen them really do anything different from role to role Death of a Salesman - no beard Richard III - no beard, with crutches King Lear - beard Goose Pimples - beard, with glasses How more different do you want? |
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Post by Jan on Sept 5, 2016 7:14:36 GMT
I've never seen them really do anything different from role to role Death of a Salesman - no beard Richard III - no beard, with crutches King Lear - beard Goose Pimples - beard, with glasses How more different do you want? What is odd with Sher is they always call him "protean" but in fact I find him the same every time. Now, this "the same" has changed a bit over the years so he is a bit more controlled and downbeat now than in his cocaine/brandy-fuelled heyday, but he has a limited range in my opinion. When as NT AD Trevor Nunn cast him as Sid James in "Cleo, Camping ....." which genuinely called for something different from him Sher pulled out because he couldn't do it |
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Post by cirque on Sept 6, 2016 17:48:37 GMT
Visually the show has a
Donald Wolfit style........the grand old days of the Actor/manager.However that's from production pics and the actual show may well be very different.seeing in just prior to transfer so hoping for a little shorter evening than the current near four hours.Think Mr D is not directing next year ...certainly not in RST before Autumn .
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Post by Jan on Sept 7, 2016 6:38:27 GMT
Visually the show has a Donald Wolfit style........the grand old days of the Actor/manager.However that's from production pics and the actual show may well be very different.seeing in just prior to transfer so hoping for a little shorter evening than the current near four hours.Think Mr D is not directing next year ...certainly not in RST before Autumn . He is directing Tempest this year which I believe (inside information) will transfer to the Barbican next year. I imagine he has a nice international tour, including USA, lined up for himself and Sher with Lear ? |
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Post by martin1965 on Sept 7, 2016 10:00:38 GMT
Oooh Jan you are a one!!
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Post by Jan on Sept 7, 2016 12:54:52 GMT
Only if it turns out I'm wrong. |
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Post by theatreliker on Sept 11, 2016 10:03:54 GMT
Enjoyed this yesterday - my first live King Lear. Sher gives a very clear performance and Doran's production is very well-interpreted. They play up the effects on the kingdom and its poverty, etc..
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Post by Jan on Sept 11, 2016 10:09:53 GMT
Enjoyed this yesterday - my first live King Lear. Sher gives a very clear performance and Doran's production is very well-interpreted. They play up the effects on the kingdom and its poverty, etc.. How many followers does Lear have ? It is always a bit ridiculous when the daughters start moaning about his followers when there are just a couple hanging around in their brown leather jerkins. They should recruit 100 extras and do it properly, have them trash the place. I think in one old production they did it more realistically, maybe the Peter Brook one. |
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Post by theatreliker on Sept 11, 2016 10:25:01 GMT
Wow, that would be ambitious. Reading the programme beforehand we actually said that there were a lot of Lear's knights. Having said that, when Goneril circled the men and said there was 100 of them it made me wonder if she was exaggerating or were we meant to use our imagination there.
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Post by Jan on Sept 11, 2016 11:48:46 GMT
Wow, that would be ambitious. Reading the programme beforehand we actually said that there were a lot of Lear's knights. Having said that, when Goneril circled the men and said there was 100 of them it made me wonder if she was exaggerating or were we meant to use our imagination there. In the Deborah Warner Julius Caesar she had 100 extras for the crowd scenes, it worked brilliantly. |
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Post by martin1965 on Sept 11, 2016 13:30:45 GMT
It was ok, wouldnt say brilliant.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 11, 2016 13:43:41 GMT
Oooh mart you are a one!!
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Post by martin1965 on Sept 22, 2016 20:31:32 GMT
Saw todays matinee. Cards on the table first, i have liked Sher since i first saw him as Shylock almost 30 years ago plus KL is my fav Shakey play.
I loved it! The three and half hours flew by. Sher is superb, commanding, fragile, stern, surprisingly funny. Supporting cast are uniformly excellent Essiedu is a star of the future, he is very good as a sardonic Edmund as is well matched by Johnston as Edgar. The sisters are well matched. Easily the best of the four Lears i have seem so far this year. Thoroughly recommended😃
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Post by David J on Sept 23, 2016 20:29:37 GMT
Oh dear
I am trying to keep my interest going for this
But I am officially taking Jan Brock's side that Antony Sher is giving the same performance in Travelling Light, Henry IV, Salesman and now this
He's better in the quieter moments such as his talk with the fool after arguing with Goneril
But he has this same delivery. Emphasising nearly every every word and drawing out vowels. His limitations shows when he has to try and deliver Lears rages
The pacing seems to slow down when he's on. I keep wishing David Troughton was Lear because even though he hasn't got a lot to do until the 2nd act he is selling his Gloucester. Even in the background he is acting his socks off
Uninspired set as well. I've seen better from Dorans King Arrhur a couple of years ago
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Post by David J on Sept 24, 2016 7:58:56 GMT
Just to elaborate the opening scene and Gonerils house with the big table were nice if static. Whenever a character made a point about Lears 100 knights they have to walk the whole length of the stage and back again to get round the stage
Otherwise you get this red brick background that goes with the old proscenium arch, and when there's no procession, table or a stark white background with a dead tree (the best set out of the lot), the whole thing looks dull
Wasn't keen on the storm scene either. Too busy for one as cast members dressed as beggars did something to the cloth on the stage so that it rise along with Lear and the fool on a lift. And after all that all I saw was Lear howling (as much as Sher could do) against a great big dirty looking cloth
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Post by Jan on Sept 24, 2016 8:55:35 GMT
Just to elaborate the opening scene and Gonerils house with the big table were nice if static. Whenever a character made a point about Lears 100 knights they have to walk the whole length of the stage and back again to get round the stage Otherwise you get this red brick background that goes with the old proscenium arch, and when there's no procession, table or a stark white background with a dead tree (the best set out of the lot), the whole thing looks dull Wasn't keen on the storm scene either. Too busy for one as cast members dressed as beggars did something to the cloth on the stage so that it rise along with Lear and the fool on a lift. And after all that all I saw was Lear howling (as much as Sher could do) against a great big dirty looking cloth I always think the opening scene should be at and after the funeral of Queen Lear. Then it makes sense of what is going on. Actually in Shakespeare's source play this happens but he omitted it. King Lear is one of the plays where a character who isn't there is important. Uncle Vanya is another. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 24, 2016 9:14:49 GMT
Too busy for one as cast members dressed as beggars did something to the cloth Might have worked better with real beggars? |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 24, 2016 9:16:09 GMT
King Lear is one of the plays where a character who isn't there is important. Uncle Vanya is another. So's Waiting for Godot. |
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Post by martin1965 on Sept 24, 2016 9:16:23 GMT
Interesting take Jan, ive never seen it done tho going back thirty years. Its not in the text of course.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 24, 2016 9:18:29 GMT
I always think the opening scene should be at and after the funeral of Queen Lear. Then it makes sense of what is going on. Actually in Shakespeare's source play this happens but he omitted it. Mike Bartlett honoured the original source in his King Charles III, |
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Post by oxfordsimon on Sept 24, 2016 12:54:39 GMT
Just to elaborate the opening scene and Gonerils house with the big table were nice if static. Whenever a character made a point about Lears 100 knights they have to walk the whole length of the stage and back again to get round the stage Otherwise you get this red brick background that goes with the old proscenium arch, and when there's no procession, table or a stark white background with a dead tree (the best set out of the lot), the whole thing looks dull Wasn't keen on the storm scene either. Too busy for one as cast members dressed as beggars did something to the cloth on the stage so that it rise along with Lear and the fool on a lift. And after all that all I saw was Lear howling (as much as Sher could do) against a great big dirty looking cloth I always think the opening scene should be at and after the funeral of Queen Lear. Then it makes sense of what is going on. Actually in Shakespeare's source play this happens but he omitted it. King Lear is one of the plays where a character who isn't there is important. Uncle Vanya is another. When I staged it in 2008, we did open with a funeral. We left it uncertain as to whether it was Lear or Gloucester who was burying a spouse - but it was a clear catalyst for Lear's decision to step aside. I was in a rehearsed reading of King Leir last year - and the opening is much clearer there. Though the rest of the play is not as good. Lots of rhyming and a happy ending! |
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Post by Jan on Sept 24, 2016 13:24:48 GMT
Interesting take Jan, ive never seen it done tho going back thirty years. Its not in the text of course. I've seen 15 productions and never seen it done either which is odd as it is an idea that has been mentioned in the literature several times and is there in the earlier source play. Oxfordsimon's spin of leaving it ambiguous who the funeral is for is interesting too. It's the sort of editorialising that Trevor Nunn is famous for in Shakespeare but even his production offered no clues as to why Lear was giving his kingdom away. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 25, 2016 10:56:22 GMT
I saw this yesterday afternoon, and I was disappointed. It was my first Lear, and I was tired, but I have to say I kept looking at my watch and thinking about dinner. I'm a big fan of the RSC, and I do really like Sher, but I was bored a lot of the time, and found Sher the least interesting of the people on stage. I agree with the point above that his delivery was really similar to his Falstaff - I've never thought that before about Sher, and I loved his Falstaff, but I was bored with him yesterday. The people who held my interest were David Troughton, Paapa Essidou, and Nia Gwynne. For the storm, maybe I needed to be further away, but we were in the front at the very side, so when the tarpaulin went up it partially obscured the view and was partially just a bloke kneeling in front of us flapping a tarpaulin about.
I was also really aware of how much of the action was downstage - we've sat at the front side quite a few times and never struggled to see before, but lots of scenes had things obscuring the view, e.g. the courtroom scene or the bit when Lear meets Cordelia again and is sat in that big chair - if everything shifted upstage a couple of feet we'd have been able to see faces and who was talking a lot better.
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Post by Jan on Sept 25, 2016 11:45:05 GMT
I saw this yesterday afternoon, and I was disappointed. It was my first Lear, and I was tired, but I have to say I kept looking at my watch and thinking about dinner. I'm a big fan of the RSC, and I do really like Sher, but I was bored a lot of the time, and found Sher the least interesting of the people on stage. I agree with the point above that his delivery was really similar to his Falstaff - I've never thought that before about Sher, and I loved his Falstaff, but I was bored with him yesterday. The people who held my interest were David Troughton, Paapa Essidou, and Nia Gwynne. For the storm, maybe I needed to be further away, but we were in the front at the very side, so when the tarpaulin went up it partially obscured the view and was partially just a bloke kneeling in front of us flapping a tarpaulin about. I was also really aware of how much of the action was downstage - we've sat at the front side quite a few times and never struggled to see before, but lots of scenes had things obscuring the view, e.g. the courtroom scene or the bit when Lear meets Cordelia again and is sat in that big chair - if everything shifted upstage a couple of feet we'd have been able to see faces and who was talking a lot better. I guess he's staged it with the Barbican proscenium stage in mind. |
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