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Post by loureviews on Nov 27, 2016 18:31:52 GMT
My review of this, ported over from my blog:
Another collaboration from RSC power couple Antony Sher and Gregory Doran, this Lear is opulent, regal, but, except for David Troughton’s magnificent Gloucester and Natalie Simpson’s sweet Cordelia, the play is strangely unmoving.
A very lengthy opening scene has the displaced and homeless sitting on the stage until they are rudely scattered ready for the entrance of the king, a Sher hunched up and swathed in furs, with a rasping voice. He appears behind glass which is slowly lowered to reveal the full majesty.
He gives away his kingdom to the empty flattery of his daughters, who clearly loathe him (later, each will recoil from his offered embrace), and in a first display of a mind in disorder, disowns his ‘joy’, Cordelia, cast adrift in her bridal gown to be taken up by a sympathetic King of France.
Antony Byrne portrays Kent and in disguise, particularly, as a tattooed skinhead, he excels, and his final scene is well played. Graham Turner plays a Fool first confident, funny and chatty, but eventually bewildered in the eye of the storm. We do not see him in the second half, as is usual, but we are concerned for his survival.
As the brothers who war due to the one’s legitimacy and the other’s bastardy, Paapa Essiedu was not convincing for me due to his total sarcasm for all around him and his throwaway asides; better was Oliver Johnstone’s Edgar who went from a bookish fop through impersonation as Poor Tom to sword-wielding champion with ease.
The relationship between Regan (Kelly Williams) and Cornwall (James Clyde) is presented very much as one orchestrated by her (when he is mortally wounded and asks for her hand, she coldly walks away without a glance). I much preferred Nia Gwynne’s Goneril, a lady with pure ice in her veins.
The eye-gouging scene may be misjudged – I had trouble hearing lines spoken within the perspex box from the stalls, so I feel for the gallery – but the effect is probably on a par with the thrown eyeball over at the Old Vic.
Where this production misses for me is the final mental disintegration of Lear. I was not moved either by his recognition of Cordelia or his ‘howl, howl’ at her death. And I know Sher has the emotional pull in other roles (his superb Willy Loman, for example) so this was a surprise.
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Post by martin1965 on Nov 27, 2016 19:37:01 GMT
My lips are sealed. Well, no actually they are around a huge glass of Prosecco. Tease😄 |
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Post by couldileaveyou on Nov 29, 2016 23:39:46 GMT
Just saw it! What can I say? It's one of those productions where everyhting is alright but nothing is great. Everything is just fine, but I'm sure I won't remember a thing from this in two weeks' time... on the other hand I'm still thinking a lot about the Old Vic production.
I really liked Paapa Essiedu and the relationship between Lear and the Fool (I liked it more than the actors who were playing them). It was my first time seeing Sher on stage and was very underwhelmed.
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Post by Someone in a tree on Dec 1, 2016 12:48:07 GMT
I really liked it. It's safe but it didn't drag and was very intense. Well I liked it apart from Sher. That nasal voice and lack of energy - "blow winds" was very lame ... I vowed after last years Henry's not to see him again but I was drawn in by cheap tickets
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Post by lynette on Dec 5, 2016 16:53:04 GMT
My lips are sealed. Well, no actually they are around a huge glass of Prosecco. Tease😄 Antony! |
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Post by martin1965 on Dec 5, 2016 17:15:26 GMT
Hmmm, interesting! JC is one of my fav shakeys, wonder who will be Brurus and Cassius?
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Post by Deleted on Dec 5, 2016 17:18:33 GMT
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Post by loureviews on Dec 6, 2016 19:27:31 GMT
David Troughton as Titus!
Any gossip about what's heading to the Barbican next winter yet?
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Post by martin1965 on Dec 6, 2016 20:14:36 GMT
Love this casting, there will be an announcement early in new year covering 17/18 sua season, may well cover any london transfers.
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Post by lynette on Dec 6, 2016 22:16:36 GMT
David Troughton as Titus! Any gossip about what's heading to the Barbican next winter yet? All the Romans will come to the Barbican. They are meant to be connected but not in an in yer face way. But Coriolanus isn't on til later in the year at Stratford so s'pose might roll into 2018 |
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Post by couldileaveyou on Jan 5, 2017 11:18:05 GMT
Board, I desperately need your help! I really need to know the name of Edmund's understudy for a paper I'm writing... if one of you bought the programme and were so kind to provide me with this information, I'd be terribly grateful!!
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Post by altamont on Jan 5, 2017 12:26:52 GMT
According to my programme, the understudy for Edmund was Theo Ogundipe
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Post by altamont on Jan 5, 2017 12:28:05 GMT
According to my programme, the understudy for Edmund was Theo Ogundipe - apologies for double post
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2017 12:29:23 GMT
In Stratford or in London?
The standards of academic research are in decline.
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Post by couldileaveyou on Jan 5, 2017 12:31:14 GMT
According to my programme, the understudy for Edmund was Theo Ogundipe - apologies for double post Thank you very much  |
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Post by harrietcraig on Apr 29, 2018 16:35:45 GMT
Reviving an old thread to say that I saw this production in Brooklyn yesterday, and I was amazed at the number of times people laughed in what I thought were inappropriate places. Admittedly, some of the laughter was appropriate, but not all of it was; for example, there was even laughter during the "Come, let's away to prison" speech, which I have always thought is one of the most moving and poignant in all of Shakespeare.
I don't know if it was Sher's acting, Doran's direction, or just the audience that happened to be at that particular performance, but I found it puzzling and annoying. I think that sometimes, when something that happens early in a play strikes an audience as amusing, they decide that everything that follows is going to be equally funny, so they get into a kind of default laughter mode that continues for the rest of the performance. Maybe that's what happened here. I'm just wondering, did anyone who saw the play in the UK have the same experience?
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Post by couldileaveyou on Apr 29, 2018 16:52:12 GMT
Oh yeah I heard people jiggling even in the final scene, when Sher was howling over Cordelia. It was very hard to take his Lear seriously.
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Post by learfan on Jun 9, 2018 15:56:51 GMT
Just come out of today's mat. Still really rate the performance and production though the two old dears next to me obvs thought they had booked for a Noel Coward play they were chuckling so much! Btw anyone on the inside know why the RSC security is so draconian? Have they had a specific threat?
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Post by NeilVHughes on Jun 9, 2018 16:33:56 GMT
Didn’t really notice any difference in the security when entering The Swan (a free one for @ryan) and this was one of the rare occasions when I had a bag.
Seeing Lear tonight, after reading Sher’s book it could be a while before he returns to the Stage and this could be his last Shakespeare role, will be interesting to see his reaction as tonight is the last night of this Production.
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Post by Jan on Jun 9, 2018 17:36:17 GMT
Didn’t really notice any difference in the security when entering The Swan (a free one for @ryan) and this was one of the rare occasions when I had a bag. Seeing Lear tonight, after reading Sher’s book it could be a while before he returns to the Stage and this could be his last Shakespeare role, will be interesting to see his reaction as tonight is the last night of this Production. What did he say in his book ? I don’t imagine he’ll be offered anything other than stage work. Bit like Greg Hicks who announced he’d be doing less stage work a few years ago and nothing changed, that’s all he got. Some actors are good on stage but unsuitable for screen. |
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Post by learfan on Jun 9, 2018 17:38:29 GMT
Really? You cannot bring any bag other handbags in to the theatres now, they even search the bags when you put them in the cloakroom. Handbags were being checked going in and second half. Bit ott for me.
It does seem the this will be Sher's farewell to Shakespearean roles at any rate. He will be 70 next year. Not sure what more he would want to play? We had standing ovation at the mat. He has long been one of my favourites. Hope he doesnt retire.
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Post by learfan on Jun 9, 2018 17:40:48 GMT
Didn’t really notice any difference in the security when entering The Swan (a free one for @ryan) and this was one of the rare occasions when I had a bag. Seeing Lear tonight, after reading Sher’s book it could be a while before he returns to the Stage and this could be his last Shakespeare role, will be interesting to see his reaction as tonight is the last night of this Production. What did he say in his book ? I don’t imagine he’ll be offered anything other than stage work. Bit like Greg Hicks who announced he’d be doing less stage work a few years ago and nothing changed, that’s all he got. Some actors are good on stage but unsuitable for screen. Amazed you haven't read it!! He said as far as Shakespearean roles this will be it, but he didn't say the R word. He will be 70 next year but seems hale and hearty. |
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Post by NeilVHughes on Jun 9, 2018 17:47:50 GMT
Inferred he had done all of the major Shakespeare roles and doesn’t fancy revisiting these.
Implied his health was not up to the challenges and his writing and painting were becoming a more important part of his life.
Cannot see him giving up the stage completely as you say his Screen career is not stellar, but do see him becoming more selective and less frequent.
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Post by NeilVHughes on Jun 9, 2018 21:57:47 GMT
Definitely hale and hearty tonight, he was on fire, the energy in the womb scene was off the scale, and when he could curse no more the realisation of his mortality was dumbfounding.
A privilege to sit in the front row and watch a master at work and not the performance of a man in his twilight years.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 14, 2018 0:14:21 GMT
I was over at Stratford on Saturday just for a day out and walked through RSC and bumped into a theatre going friend who said it might be Sher's last Shakespearean role also. It might be that he has played fairly much everything but McKellen has returned to Lear this year and he is in his 80th year now.
Antony Sher with his art, books and playwriting has many other strings to his bow so may do less acting now. But with Greg Doran running the RSC, I'd imagine he'd be keen for his partner to take on roles during the rest of his tenure even if they are none Shakespearean.
It could just be that Antony may not have the drive to act so much now as he gets older or may even feel he has played his great roles so wants to go out whilst still near the top of his powers.
Happy 69th birthday to Sir Antony today too!
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