It’s been almost a decade since the last Australian mainstage production of Shakespeare’s tragedy about a mad monarchy, evil fathers, ambitious children and a world unraveling towards apocalypse.
In the intervening years, we have witnessed the rise and rise of star casts as theater companies compete for our growing dollars by building productions around big names. International stages presented modern Lears, with Ian McKellen dressed in ceremonial military fatigues and an entourage weary; contemporary Lears, featuring plainclothes Glenda Jackson and Killing Eve’s Danny Sapani in a smart politician’s outfit; and even a vintage model in which Kenneth Branagh wore animal skins.
Bell Shakespeare, on the contrary, responds to the times we live in with simple design and costumes, with a minimalist Lear that evokes contemporary echoes in the mind of the viewer. Where most recent Lear productions have gone epic, this one is extremely intimate: told without a microphone and open to the public in the small Neilson Nutshell theater on Pier 2/3. (It will be shown in Melbourne at the Arts Centre’s slightly larger Fairfax Theatre). Instead of the standard silver screen star, Lear is now played by Australian stage master Robert Menzies. In costumes, the actors mostly wear theatrical black. It is said that what really matters in this production is the play.
It’s an attractive concept. Lear is a play of big emotions, frustrated ambitions and family squabbles, and how better to make the audience feel these than in an intimate, even claustrophobic location? There is also, as always with Shakespeare, an argument for language doing the heavy lifting.
Of course, Bell’s approach to staging inherently presents challenges; chief among these is the fact that key scenes are necessarily performed with the actors facing only part of the audience.
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The production, under artistic director Peter Evans, fails to make the most of the opportunities or fully overcome the challenges. Among a large cast with varying levels of experience, the presentation is a mixed bag: Shakespeare veterans like Menzies and James Lugton (who plays Gloucester) are like fish in water, and Shakespeare and Bell regulars like Lizzie Schebesta (Goneril) and Janine Watson (Kent). He knows what he is doing, the other actors sometimes struggle to find a rhythm and intonation that will make sense of the lines. For Lear devotees, this effect may be insignificant; but for those less familiar with the text, this presents frustrating obstacles.
Added to this were acoustic issues: lines were sometimes muddy and difficult to hear, especially if the actor’s back was to you; They were competing with the sound design in some scenes.
But even when the delivery of the lines was clear and meaningful, the fantastic lines and scenes galloped past, leaving little time to feel their meaning. The speed and relentless momentum make the game’s rapid character transformations even more difficult to handle and undermine the deep emotionality of key moments.
All these problems may diminish as production settles in the long term, but there are more fundamental challenges. Lear’s greatest strength – its beating heart – is its resounding human tragedy: a once formidable man loses first his sense of identity and purpose, then his mind; fathers who move away from their children; fatally wrong decisions, misunderstandings and missed connections. If you don’t make the audience shed tears, why are you playing this play?
This is inevitably harder to do when the audience cannot see the faces of the lead characters, even if they are close to the action on stage. In the title role, Menzies gives a believable and moving performance, offering (as many actors do) a physicality consistent with dementia; tremors, convulsions, restless hands, an increasingly hunched posture, and a gaze that alternates between focused and blank. But it’s difficult to feel the full impact of his performance when his back is turned to the audience at any time, which inevitably diminishes the power of key, exciting scenes.
Anna Tregloan’s stage design is visually seductive (all shimmering gold and reflective brass) and conceptually elegant; positions the action between a black disk resembling a void on stage and a sculpture of the solar system above it; Along with sound and light cues, it focuses the audience’s attention on the play’s pagan and astrological references; This is interesting but doesn’t fully explain the action or characters.
Again, for viewers familiar with Lear, this is unlikely to detract from the experience; However, for those encountering it for the first time, this design is a bit too conservative and adds to the feeling that this production lacks a clear outline or thesis. Like all Shakespeare plays, Lear is many things, but the most effective productions tend to hang their hats on specific topics: social violence, political intrigue, family dynamics.
Those who bring their own expectations of Lear to the theater may find those expectations reinforced or possibly confused. Those who encounter this game for the first time will have a general understanding of what the game is and what it can be. But this is not a production that promises revelation.
• King Lear runs at Sydney’s Neilson Nutshell, Pier 2/3 until 20 July, then at Melbourne Arts Center from 25 July to 11 August