King Lear - Kenneth Branagh - Wyndham's

Pudding/eating. If it not well cast and disappointing, tix wont sell. Word of mouth v powerful. So let the actors act..

And ticket prices in Germany are a lot lower than the West End. So what ?

You can place the single seat you don’t want in your basket on a separate browser, then go in before the single seat expires and buy only the seats you want.

That’s exactly what I do

Saw this tonight and thought it was thrilling!

It's a coherent, violent, muscular, take on King Lear that is exciting to watch.

Having a "youthful" Lear makes sense in the context of this world because it doesn't feel like longevity could possibly be a thing there lol.

Branagh is a whirlwind, of a piece with the setting.

Some spoilers follow. . .

Don't see this if you want long lingering sensitive scenes. Don't see this if your bladder can't last two hours straight through.

Do see this if you fancy seeing an ancient pagan Britain where the people of Britain look and feel more like Uthred and the Vikings of "The Last Kingdom," rather than the courtly world of Alfred. A fantastic youthful ensemble create a real sense of a coherent lived-in world.

The set is pagan standing stones, reminiscent of, but more encompassing and darker than, Stonehenge, with a pagan starry sky projected onto a circular screen above, with a hole in to let in the god of the sun (aka the spotlight). The screen above can equally become sturdy rustic roofs, and the thrum of the wind and the elements of nature are ever-present in the sound design.

A staggeringly savage yet coordinated display of stick-wielding establishes a sense that only absolute compliance with the disciplined and violent world of King Lear's tribe can keep you safe. This is a world of constant coordinated action, in which slowing down and ruminating individually could mean death.

The brilliance of this approach is that it turns the usual logic of Lear (Lear is an arrogant fool, Cordelia is gentle and rational) on its head, while at the same time making sense of all the events of the play.

Here, of course Lear demands absolute fealty and obedience, as banding together under his authoritarian leadership is the only way his tribe have survived the atavistic world they live in. Goneril's and Regan's phony words are necessary because they preserve the authoritarian order, while Cordelia speaking her truth threatens the whole tribe by unraveling that order, and Lear's furious response is an attempt to preserve the safety and order of his tribe.

For this reason, the doubling of Jessica Revell as both Cordelia and Fool is perfect, for in one sense, Cordelia IS a fool.

And as evil as they are, Goneril and Regan's worst actions can be read as attempts to preserve the pagan authoritarian order that Lear has allowed to fall apart. The wind and the rain can equally be read as a kind of punishment on Lear for dividing the order of his Kingdom in two.

In this version of Lear, the wily Edmund (usually depicted as a machiavellian proto Richard III) is a more a mirror of Cordelia, in that, like her, albeit for selfish reasons, he seeks to shake the stable authoritarian order, and like her, threatens the safety of everyone. And it is for Edgar to fight to re-establish order in this violent pagan world.

As Lear, Branagh bellows like the wind, his powerful and elongated proclamations deriving an elemental power from a primitive pagan order and an equally primitive pagan nature, which he, the ultimate fool, dismantles, blowing against himself. He is lithe, forceful, youthful, a Lear I've not seen before yet one that makes sense of the play!

On the downside, while Branagh's elemental Lear, Corey Mylchreest's usurping warrior-like Edmund (he's the spitting image and attitude of Uthred lol), Doug Collins's wild-eyed determined order-restoring Edgar, Caleb Obediah's absolutely towering all-encompassing action-man of justice, Albany, and Jessica Revell's principled action woman/feisty fool Cordelia are all immensely compelling, we don't get the slow motion milking of emotions that most Lear's offer (eg Glenda Jackson's lengthy death scene or the distraught McKellen dripping copious tears onto the butter-wouldn't-melt Romola Garai or the hollow-eyed vacant Derek Jacobi frantically crawling what looked like miles).

That said, this is so action packed that it's just plain exciting, and I imagine it could convert Lear holdouts who think the play's simply too overwrought.

For its fantastic coherent vision and elemental Branagh, I'd give it 4 and a half stars.

Sounds very interesting, thanks Steve and Anthony for your appraisals. I’m hoping I like Uthred and the Vikings. I do remember Noggin the Nog - any resemblance? 😂

Have won the lottery for Monday, so there is hope if you're looking for affordable seats.

I won about 15:00 (later than advertised - or perhaps I was a second batch) and spotted the email almost straight away. The link is for a particular day on the DM site and they show you the seats available to choose between. All front row and about half the seats were available to choose from.

I thought this was good, not great. Loved the set design. Branagh is as good as expected in a Shakespeare play. The rest of the cast are a mix bag. Some are good, some just ok and some very poor. Glad i saw it but wouldn't see it again.

For anyone interested, the front row ticket is absolutely fine, the stage is slightly high but bearable, plus you get a perfect view of facial reactions (including the odd smirk and wandering eyes).

At under two hours without an interval, this is fast moving and never dragged. I appreciated the simple approach (which is clearly designed to tour) and that there were no unnecessary added gunshots or the like. The limited use of projections worked. I wasn't completely sold on the decisions how to cast some of the roles, but that isn't to discredit the talent of anyone involved. No issue at all with casting young. Brilliant to see Doug Colling as Edgar too. I hadn't checked the casting in advance, so it did take my brain a bit of time to match up to his rather different role in Dear Evan Hansen.

This seems to be selling very well and a nice respectful audience. What more could you want?

Largely how I felt. It was fine but not great. I love Lear but my mind wandered quite a few times