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| LEAR last night 3 1/2 hours with one 20 minute intermission, spoilers | |
| Posted by: liam44 04:42 pm EST 03/05/19 | |
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| When Lear was first announced for Broadway with Glenda Jackson, I was curious why Scott Rudin wanted a whole new production directed by Sam Gold instead of the London production directed by Deborah Warner. My preference would have been Ms. Warner. Having seen Mr. Gold's Off Broadway production of Othello, in which the audience was siting inside a big wood box, in some modern war zone, it worked both visually and emotionally for me. Now we have Lear being performed inside a giant gold box with a purple carpet, designed by Miriam Buether. No mention in the program as to time period or location. The first hour and 30 minutes are thrilling if you are willing to hope aboard Mr. Gold’s concept. Then it all fell apart for me the minute it moves outside into the storm.. Very hard to do the rest of the play, the storm scenes, the battles etc on this kind of very modern set. Ms. Jackson is really amazing with so much energy for a 83 year old actress and she seems to be loving every minute of her stage time. I also enjoyed Ruth Wilson as both Cordelia and the fool, Elizabeth Marvel, from Homeland as Goneril, and Aisling O'Sullivan as Regan. Jayne Houdyshell is playing the Earl of Gloucester, in a gender bending role reversal, she was quite good and I did not believe for a moment she was a man and still found her/him quite moving. As he did in his production of The Glass Menagerie, Mr. Gold cast a disabled actor, (deaf) as the Duke of Cornwall, with a double signing for him. The rest of the cast was very uneven and the 2nd part seemed under rehearsed. Along with live Philip Glass music played by 4 musicians in tails on the set 95% of the time, it is a lot to take in. At the end it received a tepid reception and then a standing ovation when the actors came on stage. A must see for Glenda Jackson’s interpretation of LEAR. | |
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| re: LEAR last night 3 1/2 hours with one 20 minute intermission, spoilers | |
| Posted by: lordofspeech 02:04 am EST 03/06/19 | |
| In reply to: LEAR last night 3 1/2 hours with one 20 minute intermission, spoilers - liam44 04:42 pm EST 03/05/19 | |
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| Some notes from my seeing of LEAR. First, it’s a great play. The production was very interesting. Most notably (in an effort to be diverse, I imagine), Cornwall was deaf, and so there was an interpreter on hand for all his scenes, which proved especially distracting in scene one, when we need to be focussed on the King. Everyone was valiant with Jayne Houdyschell’s Gloucester lovely but missing lines here and there, and they are in previews until April 4. Jackson was her usually acid, arresting, singular self. I felt she was costumed too modestly, and she’s a slight figure amidst them all. She sometimes seemed not fully up to moving through long lines of verse, just in terms of aerobics. But, then, staccato is her style. Everything’s good overall. They have Cordelia double as the Fool. (Ok, though I like a male fool myself), and that actress, the only other Brit and a bit of a tv star (“The Affair”) was a sound Cordelia. I sensed that Jackson was still finding her way, even her blocking. I like Pedro Pascal: he’s a decent Edmund with a very nice throw-away style and, rather than demonic or consumed by revenge, there’s a modern irony in his asides which is right. Lots of gold in the set. “Blow winds” is staged way downstage, which helps Jackson, I’m sure. John Douglas Thompson, one of my faves, is excellent as Kent, and, oddly, the small role of Albany is very very well played. I’m not sure how the Edgar got cast (an awfully difficult role), but he is sincere. Yes. See it. |
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| re: "Yes. See it." | |
| Posted by: Dale 10:29 am EST 03/06/19 | |
| In reply to: re: LEAR last night 3 1/2 hours with one 20 minute intermission, spoilers - lordofspeech 02:04 am EST 03/06/19 | |
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| It's one of the very few Shakespeare plays I was taught... which is a plus. Houdyschell was flubbing lines but early on and never with Jackson. The sign interpreter work for awhile but then got annoying when it got distracting ( saw "Follies" in DC with one which was so interesting... but they weren't on stage ). Enjoyed the string quartet... even when they were out of place. I don't think Jackson was still finding her way... she's just old. She almost bumped into that stupid ceramic lion... she just patted it's head. I couldn't take my eyes or ears off her all evening. |
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