I, LEAR. To 16 August.

London.

I, LEAR
by Andrew Jones and Ciaran Murtagh.

Trafalgar Studios (Studio 2) To 16 August 2008.
Mon-Sat 7.45pm.
Runs1hr 15min No interval.

TICKETS: 0870 060 6632.
www.theambassadors.com/trafalgarstudios
Review: Timothy Ramsden 4 August.

Fitfully funny, but with quite a grand climax.
Someone at the BBC, claims this show’s publicity, has never seen “anything so funny in a theatre in my life”. They ought to get out of the studio more. This is far from right-out hilarious. At times it scrapes around near the embarrassing. But it does have a number of things going for it.

Despite the title, I, Lear is another case of I, An Actor, though tweedy Hugh Carpenter and cravat-toting Chester Blenheim are types long gone before these young performers started treading the boards. So, in place of comedy based on something we’d recognise from current theatregoing, there’s the relaying of hoary old stereotypes.

Yet, if it’s often amusing rather than rib-tickling, I, Lear makes points about the theory and practice of acting. Such as the way drawing on experience of life is no guarantee against cliché-bound performance. It’s a moment where Jones, his gaze repeatedly locking on some point for several seconds at a time, proves the power of a stare in the right eyes.

There’s a nice deconstruction of Brechtian acting, though like several things in the show, there seems to be a deliberate misunderstanding of the original idea. No matter; Jones’ thematic exploration of the political significance underlying his dialogue is contrasted by Murtagh’s bemused inability to do more than paraphrase what he’s just said.

There’s fun with catchphrases, the easy stealing of a laugh by referring to audience members and other details of the actor’s craft. But Cal McCrystal’s production, which has considerable visual inventiveness and detail, is limited by less attention to voice quality. Hard to imagine an actor in Chester’s mould speaking with the comparative flatness of the stand-up comedian getting on a level with his audience.

The payoff comes in an extended final section when Lear itself arrives, cleverly including all the styles, ideas and images already seen, from Greek Tragedy to stand-up comedy. And with his Firs-like, bent-backed Chekhov servant turning up again as old Lear (including the same propensity with the stare) Jones shows how a bad actor can be equally, indeed remarkably similarly, bad in virtually any role.

“Huge” Hugh Carpenter: Andrew Jones.
Chester “Chesty” Blenheim: Ciaran Murtagh.

Director: Cal McCrystal.
Lighting: Joe Hornsby.
Music: Alex Silverman.
Film Sequence: Murray Buesst.
Costume: Ronnie Dorsey.

2008-08-07 10:00:12