Feb. 7th, 2014

King Lear

Feb. 7th, 2014 07:24 pm
smallhobbit: (Brutus)
On Monday I went to see King Lear at the National Theatre, with Simon Russell-Beale in the title role.  I have to admit that the main draw - the reason why I took two days off work, was to see Sam Troughton, who was playing Edmund.  I had chosen this particular performance, because on the Tuesday afternoon there was a Talking Lear with Sam, Stephen Boxer (Gloucester) and Tom Brooke (Edgar) discussing their roles in the play.

It's the first time I've been to the Olivier Theatre, so I was very pleased when I discovered where I was sitting, because I had had to book a seat on the side of the stalls and it turned out to be at the front of the raised area, so the view was excellent.  As was the production.  It was one of those occasions when I've walked out of the theatre and thought "wow, that was good".  There was no one thing that stood out, but everything gelled and worked together.  Stephen Boxer highlighted how much of an ensemble piece it was and how Simon Russell-Beale didn't try to be pre-eminent, so that all the characters played their own part.

I know I'm biased, but I did feel that I understood Edmund's part better in this production - although it could be because I was concentrating more on his role.  The scene where Gloucester has been captured by Cornwall and Regan was imaginatively done and yes, I did look away at one part - to find the lady I was sitting next to doing the same, so we smiled at each other.  I was also very taken by the showing of an eclipse before the performance started, as a sign that all was not well with the world.

The play lasted just over three hours (plus interval) but it didn't seem very long, because the action kept moving forward.  This is the third time I've seen King Lear in the last few years and I would say it was the best production that I've seen.

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