Review: KING LEAR at Shakespeare Dallas

When Shakespeare Dallas announced that its long-time, but recently retired, artistic and executive director, Raphael Perry, was to star in King Lear, there was great speculation and anticipation, as many wondered if this was to be his swan-song or valediction. Alack, with less than two weeks to go before opening night, it was announced that the well-loved Perry was abdicating the role due to medical issues, which will hopefully allow him to perform again sometime soon.

Losing your Lear eleven days out would be a death sentence for most productions, as he’s responsible for about a fifth of the lines in the uncut text – and with this production’s inevitable (but almost uniformly successful) cuts, it’s an even larger amount – but luckily the Shakespeare Dallas team and director Christie Vela were able to pull an absolute triumph out of what could have been utter ruin.

First, the venerable T.A. Taylor moved from Gloucester (the role, not the city) to Lear, while Ethan Norris, who as Swing was to play various lords and incidental parts, took over as Gloucester.  John Flores, who, as The Fool, famously disappears in the second half of the play, doubled up as the Doctor, while a half dozen of the incidental roles were carefully divvied up among the rest of the cast by associate director Katie Ibrahim.

The sheer magnitude of the operation – altering the costumes to fit different cast members than they had been designed for, restructuring the blocking, and oh yeah, learning new parts – must have seemed monumental and unachievable.  Having seen it now three times (dress rehearsal, opening night, and a week in – and planning to attend at least once more), I can say without reservation that they’ve not only pulled it off, they’ve put together what is not only the best stage production of King Lear that I’ve ever seen, but the best all-around show I’ve attended at the Park.  (Full disclosure: I’m a member of the Shakespeare Dallas Book Club, and friendly with several of the performers and designers, which, if anything, raises my expectations.)

The cast is phenomenal from top to bottom.  Taylor, while still occasionally using his script (it takes more than three weeks to memorize the role) through the second weekend, has the mannerism, movements, cadences, and reactions down cold.  And whether with or without the script, he transmits the meaning of Lear’s tortured emotions and horrible plight (which in many ways the King brought on himself) so profoundly throughout the play (the haughtiness, the confusion, the despair, the defiance, the whimsicality of semi-madness, the contrition, and the sorrow are all palpable).  Lear, on paper (or when portrayed by a less capable actor) is not a sympathetic character.  His claim that he is “a man more sinn’d against than sinning” is belied by his treatment of Cordelia and Kent – and he must have done something to make Goneril and Regan hate him so much (besides repeatedly announcing that Cordelia was his favorite; I know my brother has always hated the fact that I’m my family’s favorite).  That Shakespeare and Taylor make the audience care about this (more likely than not, horrible) man is the definition of art.

Nichole Berastequi (Goneril – seriously, who names their daughter Goneril?  Of course she turned out evil; how could she not?), Whitney Holotik (Regan), and Thi Le (Cordelia) are excellent as Lear’s three daughters.  They are fully developed, authentic characters living this incredible story, showing the complex emotions of individuals who could each carry the weight of the drama as the protagonist, despite having been married off and discounted.

Equally impressive are Gloucester’s two sons, Ben Stegmair (the illegitimate, and downright evil, Edmund) and Carson Wright (his way too-trusting half-brother, Edgar).  Stegmair adroitly loses himself in Edmund (who is written to be so seductively black-hearted), as he drips evil with his every sentence, his every glance, his every gesture.  Stegmair seems to delight in his perfidy, displaying a deep joy that is oddly inspiring.  Edmund, almost through his sheer force of will, is able to maneuver himself to the cusp of the greatness he so richly desires.  But Wright has the much more difficult role of the two, playing Edgar’s non-sensical (but incredibly wise) fake persona, Poor Tom.  Wright is completely convincing as Tom O’Bedlam (one of several anachronisms Shakespeare snuck into this play), while offering his asides to show the audience that it is always an act.  It’s one of the most difficult roles in the canon to pull off, but he makes it seem completely effortless, which I know it can’t be.

John Flores is both hilarious and devastating as The Fool, at times antic, at times morose.  His silent, exaggerated head nod as Lear admits his mistake is worth price of admission alone, but that he’s able to convey disdain, anger, disappointment, and affection into his comment to Lear that “thou shouldst not have been old till thou hadst been wise” is as impressive as it is heartbreaking.  In his second role, as The Doctor, he’s calm and soothing (with an Eastern flair) while also surreptitiously cleaning up the gore from the blinding scene.

Speaking of which, Michael Stimac shines as Regan’s husband.  Stimac, who has often been cast in foolish roles (he was great as Launce, this past summer), revels in his portrayal of the sadistic Cornwall.  He and Holotik play off each nicely, showing that unlike many of Shakespeare’s couples, theirs was a marriage of like-souls.  Goneril and Albany (Omar Padilla), however, are clearly in that other category.  Padilla, dressed more as a pirate than a Duke, appears as covetous and ravenous as his wife at the beginning, but grows more noble as she becomes less so.  It’s especially telling when he simultaneously expresses both his contempt and longing for her.

Despite being too young for the role, Ethan Norris ably pulls off Gloucester, both before and after the blinding.  His concern for the King shines through, even while credulously believing his one son about his other son’s alleged betrayal.  Shawn Gann is another comedic mainstay being given the opportunity, of late, to demonstrate his impressive dramatic skills.  His Kent displays his love and dedication to his King and to Cordelia, as well as his utter disgust that a creature such as Oswald should be allowed to exist.

Rudy Lopez is also finally being given the chance to show off his extensive range.  Playing both the gruff and entitled Duke of Burgandy (watch his hands during his exchange with Lear) and then the unctuous and contemptable Oswald, Lopez proves he’s much more than comic relief.  Doak Rapp (as the King of France and then various soldiers and guards), meanwhile, has, I believe, both the fewest lines and the most stage-time of anyone in the cast.

Appropriately enough for a play about two crumbling families, this production is something of a family affair on its own.  The Director is married to The Fool, while their son (Dante Flores) is the dramaturge (who was responsible for the cuts to the script – which, while I certainly wish had kept Kent’s full fuselage of insults towards Oswald, I have to say, only had a single cut that I thought actually hurt the production: by taking out Edgar’s talk of the demon on the cliff, Gloucester’s change of heart away from suicide doesn’t make sense.  That I have just that single complaint for the cutting should be taken as the highest praise) and their daughter (Isa Flores) designed the excellent special gore effects, which work very well.  So well, in fact, that audience members who are bothered by fake eyes flying at them may wish to avoid the area just in front of the stage.

Noah Heller’s sound design contains hard, heavy rock music, reinforcing the barbaric nature of this iron-age tale, while Michael Sullivan’s set (basically the same from the summer), intriguingly changes colors under Aaron Johansen’s lights.  Ryan Matthieu Smith’s costumes are gorgeous, helping to accentuate the characters' personalities perfectly.  The designers’ achievements are demonstrated by this short clip, https://vimeo.com/864515111.

Kudos also belong to fight choreographer David Saldivar who raised the level of the production by eschewing the mundane and providing an original and interesting duel; although there’s a part that I philosophically disliked, the action was excellent (which also speaks to the advanced skills with weapons of Stegmair and Wright).

I recognize that this has been a long and gushing review, but considering what has been accomplished here under the circumstances (both the late casting changes and the record-breaking heat), I believe some level of gushing is justified.

King Lear runs Thursdays through Sundays, at 8 PM, in Samuell Grand Park, through October 15.  Tickets are always available at the gate, as well as through the link below.

Photos courtesy of Linda Blase

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