Theatre review: King Lear
vanessaw and I went to King Lear at the Young Vic last night; we were going to go with pretinama and his other half but it turned out they couldn't make it. Luckily at the last minute Ian from the coffee posses and Vanessa's friend Marta were able to come along in their place. Rupert Goold's production was slated by the critics when it first opened in Liverpool, but has since been retooled and got raves when it came to London. It's certainly the most inventive prodcution I've seen so far, and while Goold's ideas occasionally fall on the wrong side of gimmicky (a pregnant Goneril; Gloucester's sons fighting to the death with plastic toy swords) for the most part they work and make for a gripping production. It's nearly four hours long (it ended at 11pm, so I didn't get home until midnight; hence not writing this review at the time) but I think I only looked at my watch twice, which has to say something.
Pete Postlethwaite gets his turn as Lear and although he's not the best I've seen he isn't found wanting. His characterisation was a bit vague to start with and the character's journey could have been clearer, but he really came into his own once Lear went mad. Replacing the garland of flowers with an old floral print dress he stumbles around the stage, alternating humour and pathos brilliantly. The other standout performer is Tobias Menzies (and not just 'cause he's hot.) His Edgar is a bit of a dumb jock, who in a running (heh) gag in his first scene is constantly jogging laps while his brother plots his downfall. I found this made a lot more sense than the more traditional portrayal of Edgar as a nerdish bookworm; naive and trusting he may be, but to fall for Edmund's tricks so easily he's surely not the brightest. On the usual shallow note though, I did find him hot, even though he's not my usual type.
Menzies (who was Brutus in the TV series Rome a few years ago) plays Poor Tom in increasingly tattered tracksuit bottoms that hang very low around the back, with no underwear; when he's shivering in particular there's some major buttock-jiggling to be had. There's also a very interestingly-placed tear along the front of the trackies, and although nothing popped out of it, I'd say enough was on view to take an educated guess that Menzies does some grooming down there. And next time you wonder why my reviews appear here instead of in the papers, cast your mind back to the kind of detail I focus on and you'll wonder no more. Marta was apparently looking more at the costume than what was in it, as she informed us later that she'd spotted tit-tape stopping Edgar's trousers from falling off completely (so that's what's to blame for the lack of a scrolling!frontal alert here.)
I also enjoyed Michael Colgan's characterisation of Albany as a wet, 1970s sitcom husband, with reserves of steel that aren't initially obvious. Giles Cadle's set of a large stone staircase with a number of trapdoors hidden in it was one of my favourites in some time, although especially once it was wet after the storm scene it seemed quite hazardous, with more than one actor slipping or tripping slightly.
Once the violence starts Goold goes for a Grand Guignol approach, going for gore so extreme it's often funny, but manages to remain horrific - this morning Vanessa told me the show had given her blood-soaked nightmares. The blinding of Gloucester is of course the obvious example, with a particularly extreme moment being Charlotte Randle's Regan tearing Gloucester's eye out with her teeth then spitting it out. Subtle it's not, but it feels oddly authentic, in that we know Shakespeare's audiences loved a bit of splatter (hence John Webster's popularity at the time.) The production is far from faultless but it's original at every turn and you can't say fairer than that.
King Lear by William Shakespeare is booking until the 28th of March at the Young Vic.
Pete Postlethwaite gets his turn as Lear and although he's not the best I've seen he isn't found wanting. His characterisation was a bit vague to start with and the character's journey could have been clearer, but he really came into his own once Lear went mad. Replacing the garland of flowers with an old floral print dress he stumbles around the stage, alternating humour and pathos brilliantly. The other standout performer is Tobias Menzies (and not just 'cause he's hot.) His Edgar is a bit of a dumb jock, who in a running (heh) gag in his first scene is constantly jogging laps while his brother plots his downfall. I found this made a lot more sense than the more traditional portrayal of Edgar as a nerdish bookworm; naive and trusting he may be, but to fall for Edmund's tricks so easily he's surely not the brightest. On the usual shallow note though, I did find him hot, even though he's not my usual type.
Menzies (who was Brutus in the TV series Rome a few years ago) plays Poor Tom in increasingly tattered tracksuit bottoms that hang very low around the back, with no underwear; when he's shivering in particular there's some major buttock-jiggling to be had. There's also a very interestingly-placed tear along the front of the trackies, and although nothing popped out of it, I'd say enough was on view to take an educated guess that Menzies does some grooming down there. And next time you wonder why my reviews appear here instead of in the papers, cast your mind back to the kind of detail I focus on and you'll wonder no more. Marta was apparently looking more at the costume than what was in it, as she informed us later that she'd spotted tit-tape stopping Edgar's trousers from falling off completely (so that's what's to blame for the lack of a scrolling!frontal alert here.)
I also enjoyed Michael Colgan's characterisation of Albany as a wet, 1970s sitcom husband, with reserves of steel that aren't initially obvious. Giles Cadle's set of a large stone staircase with a number of trapdoors hidden in it was one of my favourites in some time, although especially once it was wet after the storm scene it seemed quite hazardous, with more than one actor slipping or tripping slightly.
Once the violence starts Goold goes for a Grand Guignol approach, going for gore so extreme it's often funny, but manages to remain horrific - this morning Vanessa told me the show had given her blood-soaked nightmares. The blinding of Gloucester is of course the obvious example, with a particularly extreme moment being Charlotte Randle's Regan tearing Gloucester's eye out with her teeth then spitting it out. Subtle it's not, but it feels oddly authentic, in that we know Shakespeare's audiences loved a bit of splatter (hence John Webster's popularity at the time.) The production is far from faultless but it's original at every turn and you can't say fairer than that.
King Lear by William Shakespeare is booking until the 28th of March at the Young Vic.