Reviewed by Judy Richter
William Shakespeare's "King Lear" gets the royal treatment
in the California Shakespeare Theater production directed by Lisa Peterson. This tragic story of a king who
decides to retire and divide his realm among his three daughters in order to
avoid strife features memorable individual and ensemble performances.
Peterson
and her design team -- Rachel Hauck for the set, Meg Neville for costumes, Alexander V.
Nichols for
lighting and Paul James Prendergast for music and sound -- set the tragedy in the late 1920s,
just before the Great Depression. Vertical girders with a few horizontal ones
for catwalks dominate one side of the open-air stage. On the other side is a
series of barrels that complement the industrial setting and serve other
purposes such as sound effects during the storm scene. Ragged beggars lurk in
the background as the smartly dressed royal entourage arrives at Lear's palace
to hear his news. One is reminded of them later in the storm scene when Lear (Jeffrey
DeMunn) -- in a
flash of insight -- prays for the "poor naked wretches, wheresoe'er you
are." Taking his royalty and privilege for granted in the past, he had
never been aware of or thought about such people.
Shakespeare
provides plenty of foreshadowing of his own. During the scene with Lear and his
daughters, the king's loyal friend, the Earl of Kent (Andy Murray), dismayed at Lear's rashness,
calls the king mad and advises him, "See better, Lear." Themes of
sight and madness recur throughout the play, as do the word "nothing"
and variations on the word "nature." With glasses and white hair and
beard belying his erect posture and his initial energy, DeMunn seems every inch
the king. He also makes Lear's foolishness and vanity apparent as he reproaches
and banishes his beloved youngest daughter, Cordelia (a stalwart Sarah
Nealis) for
failing to flatter him as his other two daughters, Goneril (Delia MacDougall) and Regan (Julie Eccles), had done. His anger and dismay
at Goneril and Regan's subsequent mistreatment of him begin to open his eyes to
how wrong he was.
In
an almost parallel subplot, the Earl of Gloucester (the excellent James
Carpenter) is
easily duped by his evil son, the bastard Edmund (Ravi Kapoor) into believing that his
virtuous elder son, Edgar (Erik Lochtefeld), plans to kill him. For his part, Edgar naively
buys into Edmund's plot and flees, disguising himself as a near-naked madman,
Tom of Bedlam, and gaining stature through his experiences. Gloucester
literally loses his eyes at the hands of Regan and her husband, the Duke of
Cornwall (L. Peter Callender), in a bloody scene that ends the long first half.
(Breaking there gave the stage crew a chance to wipe up the stage during
intermission.) Except for Kapoor, who seemed uncomfortable with Shakespearean
diction but who seemed to understand his character, the cast is superb. Besides
those already named, they include Andrew Hurteau as the Duke of Albany, Goneril's
husband; Liam Vincent as the King of France and as Oswald, Goneril's steward, and Anthony
Fusco as the
melancholy Fool, who, along with Kent, clearly sees Lear's folly.
"Lear"
requires a great performance by the lead actor as well as the other principals.
This absorbing production meets that test.
For More Information
Return to Home Page