Good morning all, We had another sold out last night. King Lear is the Shakespeare show to watch this summer. Cambridge News seem to agree. Have a look at their review. Steph King Lear Written by ELLA WALKER The Master’s Garden, Corpus Christi College, Wednesday, July 17 Alack! It was too good. I fear no other production of Shakespeare (let alone an outdoor one), will ever compete. Stickily arranging ourselves on rugs, slipping off sandals and inspecting the perfectly shorn grass, we settled in snugly, framed by the castle-like walls and mullioned windows of Corpus Christi College. The setting is the definition of ‘Cambridge’, and the definition of scenic – even the flowerbeds are abuzz with delicate, fluffy bees as the sun folds away (yes, even the insects are special). Directed by Bill Buckhurst, The Globe on Tour’s King Lear is so stunning, it’s hard to hold it all in your head. Joseph Marcell plays Lear, the ageing King of Britain who decides to retire from his royal duties and divide his kingdom between his three daughters: Goneril, Regan and Cordelia. While Goneril and Regan flatter and connive their way into the old king’s affections, Cordelia refuses to play such a game and is banished by her father. Brutal, fraught and heavy with cruelty, it deals with the pain of misplaced trust as, what was a generous idea in theory, unleashes Lear’s daughters’ capacity for malice, questioning whether you can ever truly see someone for what they are. For Lear, of course, it is too late and he plunges into a crippling, wrenching madness. You instantly forget Marcell made his name as butler Geoffrey in the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. He commands the stage (a scaffold of worn, scrubbed planks); tyrannical in his treatment of Cordelia, doddering and convincing in long-johns as he flounders about blinded by mania, and touching as he sinks into heavy, confused despair. The acting is faultless, from the suitably wicked and scathing Ruth Everett and Shanaya Rafaat as Lear’s malicious daughters, and Bethan Cullinane’s sweet and silly turns as Cordelia and the Fool, to Rawiri Paratene’s stoic Duke of Gloucester and Dickon Tyrrell’s unruffled Earl of Kent. At no point do you fret that a line will be mangled: every nuance and emphasis spills out perfectly into the dusk. While keeping track of the plot’s complexities can be slightly troublesome – particularly if you are new to the tale – and sometimes means momentarily scrabbling to recall which subplot has snuck into the narrative, the slickness of the staging and character transformations will haul you back in. And the staging is ingenious. When Lear finds himself in the midst of a battering storm, a maroon curtain swoops across the stage, rippling and billowing as Marcell clings on; whooshing sheets of metal being beaten out of sight. The sound is cavernous and roiling, gripping you as though the crash of waves and clatter of wind is rushing out into the gardens, lapping at your picnic. The choreography is just as impressive. When brothers Edgar (Matthew Romain) and Edmund (Oliver Boot), draw swords on one another they expertly whirl and dance and stab at each other, choking out their lines, fraught with anguish and betrayal, never missing a step. Despite it being a tragedy (and it will wring out your heartstrings and quite possibly your tear ducts), there are still bubbles of humour that leap spontaneously: a torn out eyeball pops gruesomely into the audience (cue lots of shrieking), Lear’s Fool potters about amicably with a grin, some knitted ears and wielding an accordion, while beggarly Poor Tom cavorts in a costume of mud and some rather grubby boxers. Ultimately it leaves you awe-struck – by the setting (bats wheel overhead), the acting (Romain and Marcell are particularly fantastic), and the power of every line (oh, that Shakespeare’s good). It is the fifth year the Globe Theatre on Tour has visited Cambridge, and thankfully they are returning later on in the summer with The Taming of the Shrew and Henry VI parts 1-3, but I doubt they can match how extraordinary, how magnificent Lear is. Let them try. :: King Lear, Cambridge Arts Theatre, The Master’s Garden, Corpus Christi College, Wednesday, July 17 – Saturday, July 27 at 7.30pm. Tickets £20 from (01223) 503333 / cambridgeartstheatre
Posted on: Fri, 19 Jul 2013 10:28:48 +0000
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