Any Shakespeare is always a difficult production. There are so many preconceived ideas and expectations and every audience member has a view on how it should be done. In general attempts at making this script more manageable and relevant are welcome, but it does create problems.
At times it is hard to see what the production team envisaged. Not everyone’s imagination works similarly. So the post-apocalyptic set did nothing to enhance the feel. The costumes appeared to be a mix of MadMax and Cosplay, some bright, with some colour theming, but in many cases a distraction.
Brant Eustice strongly understands the text and as director uses the versatile Little Theatre to good effect. His performance as Gloucester, although unexpected (the original cast member was unable to perform), was able to show the complexities of the character.
In the title role of Lear Michael Eustice had his work cut out. Lear is a large part and requires a huge commitment. Eustice had the essence of the character delivering text faultlessly but failed when commanding the range of emotions required. His speech conveyed the anger in his madness but did not display the depth of the character’s anguish. There was too much volume at times. His daughters Goneril and Regan were played with strength by Georgia Stockham and Rebecca Kemp respectively, both showed the ambition, hunger for power, and selfishness that Shakespeare imbued these ladies with. Stockham had a good command of the script but lost some lines when volume caused her diction to blur. Kent gave a more steely less volatile version of her character. The third daughter, Cordelia, was sweetly played by Rhoda Sylvester. An appealing mix of softness and strength.
Gloucester’s two sons, Edgar, (the legitimate) and Edmund (the bastard) are well-enacted by Robert Baulderstone and Sean Flierl. Blauderstone tackles the wronged Edgar with sincerity and manages to convincingly portray ‘Poor Tom’ while feigning madness. Flierl vindictively plays a good villain, causing his brother to be cast aside and pitting each of the characters against one another to gain power. The very realistic fight scene between the brothers was well choreographed.
Geoff Revell was well cast as The Fool, giving the role all the serious silliness it was written for. As the partners of Lear’s daughters, Tom Tassone is Cornwall (husband of Regan) and Tracey Walker shows strength as Albany (husband of Goneril). Both carry their roles well adding to the conflict. The myriad of other characters is solid, Sharon Malujlo as Kent, Tony Simpson as Oswald with Mike Leach, Harry Passehl, and Lizzie Zeuner in minor roles.
While there is a lot to like about this production, King Lear is always a hard sell because of its length and complex characters and the loss of attention through periods of poor diction does not help. Overall a worthy effort with some very good performances.
Photo credit: Richard Parkhill
