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Post by Deleted on Nov 26, 2016 22:36:56 GMT
Pffffft, that Richard III was only "fairly good" though.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 26, 2016 22:58:38 GMT
Pffffft, that Richard III was only "fairly good" though. It's my second all time favourite Lear After the Donmar Jacobi one But for me that one is still millions of miles ahead D |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 26, 2016 23:00:36 GMT
Truly spectacular One of the most lucid and revelatory King Lears I have ever seen The cast are first rate And it is probably the best company in a Shakespeare play since Richard III at this very same venue Just shows why it pays to ignore the board sometimes Who are you? And what have you done with parsley you fiend?  |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 26, 2016 23:03:50 GMT
Pffffft, that Richard III was only "fairly good" though. It's my second all time favourite Lear After the Donmar Jacobi one But for me that one is still millions of miles ahead D The Donmar Jacobi is my favourite Lear too, though I'm forever hoping I'll one day see an even better one.  |
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Post by David J on Nov 27, 2016 9:08:06 GMT
It's my second all time favourite Lear After the Donmar Jacobi one But for me that one is still millions of miles ahead D The Donmar Jacobi is my favourite Lear too, though I'm forever hoping I'll one day see an even better one. I second that |
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Post by kathryn on Nov 27, 2016 9:16:06 GMT
I fear the Jacobi Lear has spoiled me for Lear. I too hope that one day I'll see a better one, but I would settle for 'as good as'.
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Post by lynette on Nov 27, 2016 11:33:03 GMT
You know, looking back the Jacobi was good wasn't it? Damn difficult play to pull off.
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Post by loureviews on Nov 27, 2016 12:05:22 GMT
I saw the Jacobi but all I really remember is the weird chanting of Blow, winds ..
It wasn't a standout production for me.
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Post by Latecomer on Nov 27, 2016 12:55:13 GMT
I remember being worried that Jacobi was actually going to die as he looked so unwell at the end....it rather distracted me from the actual play!!!! His acting was so good he had me concerned! |
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Post by crabtree on Nov 27, 2016 14:23:31 GMT
Trying to think of the Lear's I have seen - Nigel Hawthorne, Richard Eddison, Tom Courtney, Ian Mckellen, mot of the films, but heck there must be many more than that. And the original Dresser too.
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Post by loureviews on Nov 27, 2016 18:34:07 GMT
My review of this, ported over from my blog:
November 2016 will be topped and tailed for me by two new productions of Shakespeare’s ‘King Lear’, and this first one is a rather significant one, as it represents the return to the stage of Glenda Jackson after her quarter of a century career change to represent Hampstead and Highgate (later Kilburn) in Parliament.
The Old Vic is not the most obvious venue for a modern dress, Brechtian, Lear, with its Victorian proscenium – however, director Deborah Warner and her co-designer Jean Kalman have created a staging which at first looks as if might use the whole stage space (it is fully opened out and set with movable walls, screens, and plastic chairs on which some of the cast sit and chat before the action starts). In fact most scenes are staged on the front of the stage, which projects into the auditorium necessitating the removal of the first few rows of the stalls.
So, a minimal set and staging (and each scene number projected on to the screens or on top of the proscenium – perhaps to assist those new to the play to stay engaged throughout its mammoth running time; 3 hrs 35 on the final preview on Thursday), and modern costumes. Jane Horrocks’ toxic Regan wears killer black heels; Rhys Ifans’ Fool is dressed as Superman and in one scene dons a scary clown’s mask; Karl Johnson’s Gloucester wears jeans.
Glenda Jackson plays the King, and although there is no gender impersonation here, she dons androgynous blacks and reds and has her hair in a short and severe style. Her authority effortlessly commands the stage in her first appearance, in which her love for Morfydd Clark’s sweet Cordelia (they arrive hand in hand) curdles so quickly to rage you almost have sympathy for Regan and Goneril (a steely Celia Imrie), having to cope with so changeable and terrifying a parent. She displays a sarcastic vein of humour too, in the ‘crawl towards death’ line, and later, in her interplay with the Fool’ and she handles the storm scenes well in flowing shirt and long socks, in despairing, shattered senility.
Johnson’s Gloucester elicits sympathy as he appears less of a statesman and more of a meddling Polonius-type, and although some of the audience seemed to find his ‘I have no eyes’ line amusing, it was deeply felt and beautifully delivered. As the bad son, Edmond, Simon Manyonda first appears doing an exhausting workout with skipping rope and press-ups, before dismissing his doting brother Edgar by mooning the audience. He is a studious and serious traitor, colluding with those watching from the dark and mocking the two daughters who, barren and frigid in their respective marriages, salivate over him.
Edgar, played by Harry Melling, is good in the Poor Tom scenes (curiously by the time we get to the ‘naked fellow’ lines he is clothed, but he does disrobe completely earlier on), although he overdoes the speech stating his father’s ‘heart burst’, striking his chest repeatedly in the echo of a heartbeat. I note he is one of the Troughton acting family as well as a Harry Potter alumnus, and can see some of his family potential (his uncle David is soon over at the Barbican in the second November Lear I mentioned earlier, playing Gloucester).
Rounding out the cast are Danny Webb as a psychotic Cornwall, all smiles before the steel temper strikes (the blinding of Gloucester is done well, with suggestive shadows and piercing Regan scream); William Chubb as a sympathetic Albany, trapped in a marriage which has decayed for years; Gary Sefton as an ingratiating Oswald; and Sargon Yelda as a strangely young and vital Kent. The scene where the King of France accepts a dowerless Cordelia is somewhat spoilt by his comic accent, but that’s a small criticism.
This is Glenda Jackson’s moment, though, and she surely shines. Her interplay with her fellow cast is convincing – in particular with Ifans’ Fool, Yelda’s disguised Kent (and earlier, in his banishment scene), and her daughters. Her ‘howl, howl’ as she is dragged in on a carpet with her deceased young daughter is heart-rending, and her refusal of Gloucester’s request to kiss her hand ‘let me wipe it first; it smells of mortality’ is nicely done, as is her recognition of him despite her previous staggering madness with leafed crown.
A nod, too, for the design of the storm, with projections, sound, and large black plastic sheet simply shaken. The effect is spectacular.
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Post by nash16 on Dec 2, 2016 8:52:32 GMT
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Post by drmaplewood on Dec 2, 2016 9:39:36 GMT
Aside from the news, that is a terribly written article.
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Dec 2, 2016 11:15:22 GMT
Pull the other one!
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Post by loureviews on Dec 6, 2016 19:32:50 GMT
Pity they didn't film it. It worked because you could watch it. Not because you could listen to it.
We do however get Don Warrington from the Manchester production on Christmas TV. I will record and watch at a later date. Feel a bit Leared out now.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 6, 2016 23:16:03 GMT
And, from 2006, BBC Radio 4 Extra has a 90-minute recreation of the Boxing Day 1606 premiere of King Lear for James I.
Christmas Eve afternoon 4.00pm
Rptd Christmas Day morning 4.00am
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Post by Deleted on Dec 7, 2016 6:44:45 GMT
This didn't happen with their radio versions of stage productions for the last couple of years.
And that is why Lynda Snell is a better director than Deborah Warner.
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Post by grit on Dec 9, 2016 9:05:07 GMT
A note to say thank you to Theatreboard people for giving tips on cheapest seats / best views: I took 3 kids to experience Glenda's Lear and we sat in row X Lilian Baylis circle. The view was 90% there and I didn't get a blow to the head for leaning forward to clock the angles of the stage when need be. Seats are uncomfortable though, and I didn't appreciate there's no room for bags and legs - for the second half I put the bags on the steps at the side against the wall: I expected someone to tell me off for that, but no-one did, so it was a solution.
By the way, I also liked the way the Old Vic staff were fairly relaxed about eating and drinking at the theatre. We always fear getting told off if we try and scoff our hasty shop-bought sarnie, acquired on the run through to the start, but no-one did, which made the egg and cress more relaxing than normal.
Kids all liked Glenda, too, and the Fool, and the excellent storm. They did have a bit of talk about the Brechtian start, and they weren't sure about the conviction of that, as it didn't seem to be an idea carried through with more than a passing nod, so they wondered, why bother with that?
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Post by couldileaveyou on Jan 5, 2017 11:13:59 GMT
Board, I desperately need your help! I really need to know the name of Edmund's understudy for a paper I'm writing... if one of you bought the programme and were so kind to provide me with this information, I'd be terribly grateful!!
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Post by altamont on Jan 5, 2017 12:41:42 GMT
And for this one, it was Fehinti Balogun
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Post by couldileaveyou on Jan 5, 2017 12:45:04 GMT
And for this one, it was Fehinti Balogun Thank you so much, you're an absolute star! |
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Post by couldileaveyou on Jun 28, 2018 14:11:08 GMT
Glenda is reprising this on Broadway, which is a shame cause I wanted them to bring over Three Tall Women
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Post by Deleted on Jun 28, 2018 14:21:12 GMT
She's not technically reprising it, it's going to be a whole new production with a different director and cast.
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Post by couldileaveyou on Jun 28, 2018 14:36:31 GMT
She's not technically reprising it, it's going to be a whole new production with a different director and cast. Ooh thank god |
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Post by learfan on Jun 28, 2018 14:44:34 GMT
Glenda is reprising this on Broadway, which is a shame cause I wanted them to bring over Three Tall Women Yes i was hoping TTW would come over. Oh well. |
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