BWW Reviews: KING LEAR, Courtyard Theatre, Stratford, April 2011

Hazel Davis

Whoever decided that modernising Shakespeare meant shoving the characters in 20th century army wear? One day, just one day, I’d like to watch one of the Bard’s works in original dress. Or penguin outfits maybe. I know why they do it, because it’s flattering. Men look good in Army. And jackboots sound impressive on a clattery stage.

Anyway, the usual boredom at “innovative” costuming aside, the RSC’s production of King Lear was, as widely billed, a thrilling ride. A revival of David Farr’s 2010 production, it was the first to be shown at the newly renovated (and much-improved) thrust-stage Courtyard theatre.

Greg Hicks with his unnerving vibrato did a sterling job of descending from a swaggering and commanding king to a gibbering wreck, somehow managing to look like he’d actually lost a few pounds in the process. The transformation was believably gradual and, unlike other Lears I’ve seen, managed to convey the seemingly implausible manipulation.

The problem with King Lear is that it’s a one-character play. Bar The Fool, Lear has all the good lines. He is the three-dimensional one. Old Will concentrated so much on Lear and his dazzling language that he forgot to write a decent plot. This of course means that the other actors will always look implausible. Goneril has no motive for tricking her father. Regan has no motive for siding with her. Nothing is told about their history. When Goneril gets it on with Edmund it seemingly comes from nowhere.

With this in mind, I still can’t decide whether Kelly Hunter’s Goneril was inspired in its harsh, inhuman woodenness or just not very good. Perhaps she realized she was on a hiding to nothing and played it for high drama instead. Sophie Russell was utterly captivating as The Fool, delivering each line with excellent comic timing and genuinely believable devotion to the doomed monarch. The staging was impressive, with falling walls, real, actual rain and flashing lights.

Ultimately, though, what everyone wants when they go to see King Lear is a good Lear and it was a very good Lear.