KING LEAR. To 15 February.
London
KING LEAR
by William Shakespeare
Greenwich Playhouse To 15 February 2004
Tue-Sat 7.45pm Sun 4pm
Runs 2hr 30min One interval
TICKETS: 020 8858 9256
boxoffice@galleontheatre.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 25 January
Clarity rather than refinement is this production's calling-card.King Lear's an unlikely choice for a studio theatre and limited cast. But for all the inconveniences, and rawness in verse-speaking, Bruce Jamieson's modern-dress production shows an intelligent response to the script and makes a case for seeing these characters up close.
Oliver Bradshaw presents an elderly Lear, well past his rule-by date; the voice, veiled with age, is no match for Kent's firm denunciation. There's real belief when he says he's more sinned against than sinning, and a constant sense you're never too old to learn as the reality of life without the reins of power becomes ever more obvious.
But it's in the other story of family overthrow the production springs its surprise. Tom Stuart's Edmund is elegantly plausible no wonder Kent comments on his fair appearance. This must make his bastardy more difficult to bear all the advantages barred to someone who could make use of them so successfully. His face sours as he discusses the situation.
It's good brother Edgar who initially seems rough and unkind; the production never makes clear why there's this surface maybe, like Lear, he has to discover what the stormy world outside's truly like before his real nature emerges from an arrogant authority over his brother.
Elsewhere, cruelty's only too obvious, with a Goneril and Regan who seem over-keen to let us know the worst in lip-curling distaste and sexually aware dress. For it's a male world, where manipulating men is a woman's best route to exercising power. A loving relationship like that between Alex Roberts' initially persuasive, gently assertive Cordelia (later suffering from physical reticence) and France is rare ironically built on nothing'.
Among grey-suited men, ornamentation around the tie identifies Grae Cleugh's Albany as someone with less brutal values. The playing of these power-men is strong including Patrick Ross's Oswald. Tripped up by Kent, he learns to be tough when it's safe, assisting at Gloucester's blinding.
Some things have to go James Thomas's quietly promising Fool doesn't have room to develop. But, rough-hewn as it technically can be, this production has a clear eye on the play's power relationships.
Kent: Matthew Ward
Gloucester: Barry Latchford
Edmund: Tom Stuart
Lear: Oliver Bradshaw
Goneril: Alice de Sousa
Cordelia: Alex Roberts
Regan: Anna Fiorentini
Albany: Grae Cleugh
Burgundy/Oswald: Patrick Ross
France/Fool/Curan: James Thomas
Edgar: Jackson Wright
Cornwall: David Vaughan Knight
Director: Bruce Jamieson
Designer: Liam Daniel Shea
Lighting: Robert Gooch
Costume: Rachel Baynton
2004-01-27 12:12:57