King Lear

[osprey_archer]

When I was in ninth grade, the local university theater department put on a production of King Lear. Since we had read Julius Caesar and Romeo and Juliet in class, my friends and I felt that we had a pretty good grasp of this whole Shakepearian tragedy thing, so we went to see it.

Reader, we did not have a grasp on this whole Shakespearian tragedy thing. We were not prepared for a play where all but three of the characters die, usually in miserable agony after seeing all their hopes dashed to pieces. We were also unaware that Shakespeare productions could be set anytime and anywhere, and therefore quite startled by the inclusion of Vietnam War footage, which I’m pretty sure was meant as a commentary on the Iraq War (this was 2004), and also some of the characters wore modern war gear (Cordelia had a bandolier of grenades) but most of them were in medieval garb.

Possibly we would have appreciated this mash-up more if we were not already traumatized by (a) the play and (b) the wide spectrum of acting talent (Cordelia was good; the King of France was a block of wood). But as it was, we felt that the staging and costume choices were incoherent. And there is something singularly irritating about having your heart crushed by a production that wasn’t even any good, dammit!

Anyway, now that a couple of decades have passed, I felt ready to tackle another King Lear, especially since the National Theater production stars Ian McKellen as the king. Is anyone ever truly ready for King Lear? Well… at least this time I knew what I was getting into.

In contrast to many of the other National Theater productions I’ve seen, this one had mostly very simple staging: there’s a large round circle of carpet on the stage, and some furniture gets moved on and off. There are a couple of fancier bits, like a mirror carefully slanted so as to double the number of King Lear’s riotous frat boy knights at the table, but mostly it’s straightforward.

(I’ve decided that the best way to approach the National Theater’s costuming decisions is to assume that they’re following the Elizabethan practice of putting the characters in sumptuous contemporary clothes even though the play is in fact taking place in, say, mythological prehistoric Britain that also seems surprisingly similar to the England of the Wars of the Roses.)

After his abdication, King Lear intends to travel between his two eldest daughters’ castles with his entourage of one hundred riotous frat boy knights, which I must confess gives me some sympathy for Goneril and Regan’s lack of enthusiasm for hosting him. All the same, it’s so sad when they start insisting that he lower his entourage, and King Lear tears up as he realizes that his daughters whose love he had depended on don’t love him after all - just so tragic to see an old man cry.

Fantastic performances all around. Goneril and Regan were particularly excellent. Claire Price plays Goneril as an icily put-together politician in a sort of Margaret Thatcher mold, while Kirsty Bushell’s Regan is childish in a pouting, sexy, “Santa Baby” sort of way.

Both sisters fall hard for Gloucester’s bastard son Edmund (James Corrigan), the only character in this play who seems to be having a great time. He’s evil and he’s embracing it! Living his best worst life!

But nonetheless he has a couple of moments that hint at humanity and vulnerability. My favorite was the bit right after he frames his legitimate brother Edgar for treason and drives him from the castle. Edmund cuts his own hand and presses his bleeding palm to his side to make it look like he was wounded fighting Edgar, then shouts for his father Gloucester to announce that Edgar has fled. As Edmund writhes on the floor in apparent agony, Gloucester laments the defection of his legitimate son, until an exasperated Edmund announces, “I’m bleeding!”

And even that doesn’t get Gloucester’s attention! Can you really blame Edmund for leaving Gloucester to be blinded by Regan and her husband?

(Gloucester is another one of Shakespeare’s interestingly flawed characters: clearly the worst dad, but genuinely compassionate toward Lear in his suffering, which is the reason that he’s blinded.)

(Also, important How to Be a Better Dictator note: if you are going to gouge out your enemy’s eyes, don’t release him to wander the land afterward, because everyone who sees him will be stirred to opposition toward your cause.)

And I also loved Kent, Lear’s loyal courtier, cross-cast as Sinead Cusack. When she objects to Lear banishing his one loving daughter Cordelia, Lear banishes Kent too. But the loyal Kent disguises herself as a man and rejoins Lear as the bluff and hearty Caius, a hale fellow of low rank but a loyal heart. When Lear’s other retainers abandon him, Caius sticks by Lear’s side as Lear wanders mad on the moors. An excellent performance and an argument in favor of more trouser roles for middle-aged women. What could be more Shakespearian?

“Is this the promised end?” cries Kent, as Lear clutches the body of the dead Cordelia. Apparently the classic Lear story ends happily (more or less) with Cordelia mowing down her disloyal sisters and then reuniting with her loving father Lear, so the Elizabethan audience must indeed have felt this was not the promised end. Here, only three people are left alive: Edgar, Goneril’s husband (who turned against Goneril in the end), and Kent, who has not long to live.

The first time I saw King Lear, I thought Kent was going to die of a broken heart. (Who could blame him!) In this production, Kent purposefully takes up a gun as she announces she must follow her master. If her broken heart won’t kill her, Kent will deliver Kent from bondage on this bitch of an earth.

***

And thus ends my National Theater subscription! Although inevitably one ends with a few plays unwatched, I feel that overall I’ve put it to good use. And littlerhymes reminded me that one can rent a play on the National Theater streaming service without having to get an entire subscription, so if I decide I really HAVE to watch Romeo and Juliet, that’s an option.

Comments

[troisoiseaux]

And I also loved Kent, Lear’s loyal courtier, cross-cast as Sinead Cusack. When she objects to Lear banishing his one loving daughter Cordelia, Lear banishes Kent too. But the loyal Kent disguises herself as a man and rejoins Lear as the bluff and hearty Caius, a hale fellow of low rank but a loyal heart.

Interestingly, the STC production of Lear I saw a couple of years ago did this too! I wonder if it's become a somewhat typical staging choice? (Really, the only thing Lear was missing to become The Ultimate Shakespeare Play was cross-dressing - it has the mad kings, scheming bastards, etc.)

I'm glad you enjoyed the NTH subscription! :D

[osprey_archer]

Oh, interesting! Yes, I bet some of theater directors reason exactly thus: "If we add cross-dressing, theater-goers can get the Compleat Shakespeare Experience all in one!" The only thing missing is "Exit, pursued by a bear."

I watched ten plays! I was hoping to squeeze in one more, but alas I seem theatered-out at the moment. Still, there is always the rental option... and perhaps Santa Claus will gift me another month of theater next Christmas. :D

[troisoiseaux]

I think we've talked about this before, actually, but I also feel like "advisor who voices dissent"-type characters tend to get cross-cast/genderswapped because it creates an interesting dynamic— I feel like the Cassius in the Bridge Theater/NTH Julius Caesar counts as an example of this, too? (e.g., how they played the "lean and hungry look" line)

[osprey_archer]

I don't think we've talked about that specifically before! Did def. talk about some other staging choices in Julius Caesar (the audience cheering for Caesar, guns in the assassination scene) but not I think the specific question of Genderswapped Cassius. Is Cassius the evil inverse of Kent... Advisor who leads you astray rather than advisor who tries to convince you not to do the stupid thing you're doing?

Side note: does National Theater do subtitles? Someone asked a question about this below and I don't know the answer.

[troisoiseaux]

Turns out I was mostly thinking of this post!

(Also, yes, and I commented below!)

[osprey_archer]

I wish I could see that production of The Tempest. It sounds so cool. We did The Tempest in zeater and I also saw it in high school, but unfortunately I saw it the year after we saw A Comedy of Errors so I went in with my expectations sky-high and then everyone was in tie-dye for some reason? Puzzling. Anyway, I'd like to see a better production someday.

[asakiyume]

Wow, I had no idea that the story typically ends happily! Now I wonder what was on Shakespeare's mind to give it this twist. ... It doesn't matter for the story, but it matters for understanding the heart of Shakespeare, you know?

"leading his best worst life" is a great line. There seems to be a steady supply of people who can lead their worst lives in complete and happy contentment.

[osprey_archer]

I think the story used to typically end happily, but the most known version now is the Shakespeare version so probably if you did a happy-ending Lear people would complain. "But it's traditional!" you would cry. "I mean, it was traditional before Shakespeare!" Does a tradition that was superseded four hundred years ago still count?

I like to imagine that people living their worst lives are often secretly unhappy, and I think some of them truly are (Trump has never struck me as a happy person, for instance). But some people just seem to thrive in spreading misery.

[asakiyume]

I too like to imagine those people are secretly unhappy, and it makes sense that they would be, because it's hard to be happy if you're creating a wasteland of unhappiness in your wake--it's a wasteland you yourself have to look at and live in. But yeah. Some seem oblivious.

[silverusagi]

Do the plays on this service have subtitles? For me the language of Shakespeare is easier to catch if I can read along.

[troisoiseaux]

Yes!

[oracne]

How did they do The Fool? The production I saw had the same actor play Cordelia (possibly original practice, as they never appear onstage at the same time).

It was this one: https://www.vogue.com/article/king-lear-on-broadway-ruth-wilson-glenda-jackson-interview-april-2019

[osprey_archer]

The Fool and Cordelia were different actors in this production.

[oracne]

Thanks! I've only ever seen it once, so I was curious if it was common or not.

[ethelmay]

I remember being TERRIBLY proud of myself for working that out (about Cordelia and the Fool never being on stage together) when I was in college. It's entirely possible I'd read about that casting idea and forgotten it wasn't my own insight, though!

[oracne]

This was the first and only Lear performance I've ever seen, so I didn't know if this was common or not!

[conuly]

After his abdication, King Lear intends to travel between his two eldest daughters’ castles with his entourage of one hundred riotous frat boy knights, which I must confess gives me some sympathy for Goneril and Regan’s lack of enthusiasm for hosting him.

Oh, same.

[osprey_archer]

I'm assuming that an entourage of one hundred is more reasonable when you're an ex-king, but nonetheless! That's so many! Truly so many problems would have been avoided if he had simply reserved for himself and his knights a small castle and demesne rather than relying totally on his daughters.

[conuly]

Maybe, and I'm just floating this here, maybe he's a bad parent. Cordelia was his golden child until the very moment she didn't fawn all over him, and then she became the scapegoat. And his plan was always to mooch off his daughters because that's how they show their devotion.

[osprey_archer]

Could this be... King Lear's tragic flaw??? Bad parenting. Poor judgment all around. Banishes Kent the moment Kent says "Sir maybe you shouldn't banish Cordelia." The Fool has a point when he calls Lear a fool!

[conuly]

And then doesn't understand why his other two daughters don't like him too much. Talk about your missing missing reasons!

[osprey_archer]

True, Cordelia has been so obviously his favorite for years that the entire kingdom knows it, but why would Goneril and Regan hold that against him!

This is the same reason that Edmund so turns against Gloucester: his very obvious favoritism toward Edgar. King Lear actually a play about how you should at least TRY to hide it if you have a favorite child.

[msilverstar]

oh wow, I now remember the time one of the boy's friend's mother arranged for an educational Shakespeare mother-son excursion -- to Hamlet!

[osprey_archer]

Oh MY. That's a choice for a mother-son outing!

[lokifan]

I love Edmund! My fave <3 I dunno, CS Lewis gave me a weakness for traitorous siblings I guess. And yes, Kent is great!

(Gloucester is another one of Shakespeare’s interestingly flawed characters: clearly the worst dad, but genuinely compassionate toward Lear in his suffering, which is the reason that he’s blinded.)

Yeah, love this point.

You def seem to have made great use of the subscription!

[osprey_archer]

Edmund is the Worst but he's having a great time with it and I love him.

Yes, I watched ten shows! Would never be able to keep up this kind of commitment if I had the subscription long-term, but a short burst lights a fire under me.

[superborb]

I really enjoyed reading your National Theater reviews! Seriously tempted me to get a subscription haha

[osprey_archer]

I found the one-month subscription worked really well! If I have a subscription always I'm like "Oh I can always watch that later" (and then don't get much use out of it) but the time limit really focuses me.