King Lear Old Vic Glenda Jackson

Saw this tonight, and was left cold by some of it, but loved most of it.

There is a villain-shaped hole in the production, partly due to the Brechtian staging, which unbalances the play.

For me, Brechtian distancing techniques, designed to reduce audience emotion in favour of promoting an activist political response, work best if the production is actually saying something specific and topical. For example, the Jonathan Church/Henry Goodman production of Brecht's own Arturo Ui brilliantly skewered the pathetic powermongering pettiness of our politics, and with the dawn of Trump, Goodman's clown of a fascist would be even more chilling and funny today. By contrast, this production offers no singular vision of Lear, no topical commentary, no reason for deliberately distancing the audience from our natural emotional response.

Some spoilers follow. . .

The bright white boards, the generic bright lights that defocused the action, the surtitles delineating the Act and the Scene, the modern costumes, the words on costumes, the chairs, the modern masks, the use of multiple accents, the use of spectacles as a prop, all this served to reduce the impact of the acting for no discernible reason. There were no placards directing our thoughts, no costumes that pointed to specific topical concerns, no ideas directed at our defocused and distanced minds to make the Brechtian approach worthwhile.

I have never felt so little in some of the most horrific scenes in this play, and bar having a laugh at an eyeball tossed into the audience, I couldn't find much profit in the reduction of the impact of important moments.

The villains suffered most (with the exception of Danny Webb's Cornwall), and of the villains, Simon Manyonda's Edmond, typically a key character, felt trivial. His characterisation was neither emotive nor sociopathically cold, but occupied a strange, tepid and silly middle ground, involving some unenthusiastic masturbation.

The principal protagonists, Lear, Gloucester, Kent, Edgar, Cordelia and Albany were all wonderful. Terrific acting overcame Brechtian obstacles, and when Deborah Warner chose, she removed those obstacles, covering the white boards to create a spectacular storm amidst a scary and sudden darkness, which multiplied the effect of the great performances to a gripping degree.

As a rule, I found the show dramatically effective in direct proportion to the degree the white boards were hidden away.

Glenda Jackson's Lear was exceptional, reminding me of McKellen's Lear, though less noble and more anguished. Like McKellen, Jackson's face has an lightning rubbery responsiveness to whatever she is thinking. Like McKellen, her eyes are hugely expressive moment to moment.

Also great were Sargon Yelda's Kent's beautiful diction, Harry Melling's Edgar's off-the-wall expressiveness, Karl Johnson's impassioned and vulnerable Gloucester and William Chubb's sensitive Albany.

I really enjoyed this, but it would have been emotionally devastating if the sets and costumes and direction had been in sync with the performances. Perhaps I should be grateful it wasn't, but I have no idea what it was about Lear that Deborah Warner wanted me to learn, that merited her distancing me from her production.

3 and a half stars

Hmm. I think whether you enjoy this production really depends on whether you like Glenda Jackson. I've never been a fan, and she left me absolutely cold.

Where should one write SOCIAL?

Pics!!!

www.theguardian.com/stage/gallery/2016/nov/03/glenda-jackson-returns-to-the-stage-as-king-lear-old-vic-in-pictures

Why would everyone scupper Glenda? Am I missing a huge leap? She is an unassailable force of nature. I Am nearly 60 so have a real fixed, perfect view of her based of her NEVER putting Foot wrong?

Loved the production - bold, new, spacious, batsh!t crazy, all the things I want in a Shakespeare.

Glenda Jackson is a tour de force, and is not to be missed.

Harry Melling was rather annoying personally, I thought he overdid the role in parts.

I particularly loved Horrocks and Imrie.

And Edmund's magnificent ass.

Guardian 4*
Times 4*
Telegraph (reads as a) 4*
Daily Hate 3* (added bonus in this review is the shock that Lear is played by a girl! And she votes labour! The HORROR)

Hey, don't diss King Lear With Sheep! That was highly entertaining :-P

(Incidentally I took a friend to that who'd never actually seen King Lear before. She was proper weirded out)

Lear: are you shearing that sheep?
Poor Tom: no, get your own

So is Glenda now a lock for Best Actress at the Oliviers (a nomination at least)? What about any other noms - Harry Melling (despite my own disapproval) for supporting? Any of the ladies?