King Lear - Kenneth Branagh - Wyndham's

3 stars from WhatsonStage too with the final line 'The only consolation is that he is tackling it so early, he can always have another go.'...

The Daily Mail meanwhile has given a brutal 1 star!

So many lukewarm and pointless plays in the WE this year

Little Life
Lyonesse
King Lear

At the prices charged

Some serious quality control is needed

It’s a shame they are all so well sold

And I wonder if the egos of the actors and directors of these substandard offerings are dented at all

I think Branagh is so overrated.

He's awful in the Poirot movies and Belfast was really underwhelming.

He’s not a great Shakespearean actor though is he ? None of his stage roles were really great - Hamlet, Leontes, Macbeth, Richard III, Coriolanus. His best was HenryV but that was in a really great Adrian Noble production which Branagh then borrowed freely from for his film. I thought his film of Hamlet was very good - I think he’s a better director than actor.

One star from The Stage

www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/king-lear-review-at-wyndhams-theatre-london-with-kenneth-branagh

Maybe they can offer a condolence package deal to ticketbuyers who have booked to see this and LYONESSE - a free hotel room where they can go to recover. And I doubt TIME TRAVELLERS WIFE will fare much better. Grim times at the moment, at least qualitatively.

I think Branagh works best when he's just acting or directing rather than both at the same time, the likes of Christopher Nolan and Michael Grandage bring out the best of his abilities.

I don't like to dismiss other people's reviews/opinions on a show as it is so subjective but writing an article should be more than a personal opinion - as, unsurprisingly, there will always be things you see that may not be your cup of tea but you can still see the brilliance in them. I hate scary films but I don't therefore think they're all rubbish.

I'm not saying this Lear is brilliant but it is not 1-star-bad. There is just no way. The only reason to review it so badly is because more people will read the review and that's what keeps The State going. And because some like to see KB fail so they can criticise him for making poor decisions in his career. Even if you don't like the pace; scenery; sound; acting this is not a play that falls completely flat.

He probably shouldn't have directed it and starred in it. They probably should have explained the cast were all RADA graduates so people could make an informed decision on whether to buy expensive tickets. Either way he has given a new crop of theatre actors a solid start and I thought they all performed very well.

Branagh was probably hoping for a big hit with great reviews, so he could be to be in the run for the top job at the National. King Lear was announced at the time when the National theatre was starting to look for a new artistic director. I think it has backfired.

Agree with this 100%, though I sense Branagh enjoys films more as he can fine-tune things until they are perfect.  I think the reviews for Lear will hurt him (inside) but doubt it will damage his bankability.  Personally, I am off to see it twice  - this Friday and then in December, and I am very much looking forward to it.  I rarely agree with the critics anyway.

We watched this on Monday evening and enjoyed it. 

Notable actors have ‘helped out’ RADA before by acting with students in the RADA studios - Tom Hiddleston appeared in Hamlet (directed by Ken Branagh) a few years ago there.As RADA President, it isn’t really surprising Ken should act in and direct Lear. I suspect the two hour non stop running time, is maybe partly to try to engage younger people with shorter attention spans than the three plus hours Lear usually needs. (Though it does mean the deterioration of Lear, etc, is speeded up a bit!) 

But think that’s Branagh’s big problem-he can be a great actor and a great director, but he cannot/shouldn’t direct himself (not many actors can). He would be better off doing one or the other, but not both at the same time. (Does he give himself notes?!) 

However, he is one of the few great Shakespearean actors, alongside McKellen and Dench, in as far as he has a way of delivering the lines which make them instantly understandable - many times we’ve had to ‘tune in’ to the Shakespearean language with other actors, but with these three you don’t, it’s understandable straight away. 

Couple of observations re Branagh. Gorgeous hair, makes him look more older Thor like, than old Lear. We were sat quite near the front in the stalls so could see facial expressions pretty well-he didn’t seem to feel it in his face(if that makes sense) his eyes pretty much didn’t change expression. Oh also, the ending was the theatrical piece you might expect from Olivier. 😉

Would say McKellen’s version is by far the best Lear we’ve ever seen, but this is perfectly fine, but could have been better (and the RADA cast were good enough, particularly the older ones who’d been off and done other things and came back to perform in this). 

And yes, it is pretty much sold out. 

McKellen has played it twice. Neither were as good as Robert Stephens. Derek Jacobi was good too, there have been plenty who weren't.