Review - King Lear

I went last weekend to a preview of King Lear, starring Sam Waterston, at the Public Theater.  My, the renovations at the Public are amazing!  Having more than three bathroom stalls was almost a religious experience!!  J

Anyway, the show.  I’m a bit at a loss about how to describe it.  I reasonably enjoyed myself and think it’s a perfectly fine production of Lear.  I thought most of the actors were quite good, and the action was quickly-paced and very clear.  But there wasn’t much resonance for me and I’m struggling to figure out why.

Maybe it was the space—the show is in the Martinson, which is the really long theater downstairs with a very shallow playing area.  It seemed like there was never enough room and everyone was on the stage at the same time, whether they were in the same scene or not.

Maybe it was the set (such as it was)—I didn’t enjoy, in the extreme, the chain link curtain that was used as the prominent set piece.  It looked cool at first, but as each scene was played, after the actor came in and out through the curtain, it would rock back and forth and continue to ‘clink clink clink’ throughout the scene.  It started to become very distracting.  The curtain was on a track and would move forward or back, depending on how much playing space was needed at the front.  Clink clink clink.  Then (and here comes a staging spoiler), during the storm scene, it all came crashing down.  Well, ok, that was pretty interesting, for a minute, but I don’t think it justified all the annoyance throughout the first act.

Maybe it was the placement of the intermission—I don’t remember seeing a Lear with the intermission after the blinding of Gloucester.  That seems really late in the game to me.  The first act was a tad over two hours, then we had a little over an hour left in the second act.  I didn’t really think the show felt too long, but…I don’t know.  And if that’s where the intermission usually is, well, perhaps it just didn’t work for me this time.

Maybe it was the direction:  I think maybe the first act was paced TOO quickly.  Everything kept racing along and it was hard to develop a relationship or even any feeling about anything, it was all happening so fast.  I realize that when you have a two hour plus first act, things need to move, but this really sped by.  It almost became comic (and the audience did start laughing at pretty inappropriate moments).  The second act was a bit more leisurely, and I could start to empathize with all the horrible things that happen, but I think by then, I hadn’t been engaged enough to REALLY feel.

I did think Sam Waterston was terrific.  His first entrance is wonderful and sets up the character beautifully.  His gradual diminishment as the play progresses is done very well.  Michael McKean, as Gloucester, was also grand.  I would say the one very moving moment for me was between Waterston and McKean, towards the end of the play.  Really lovely.  I wish there were more such moments.  John Douglas Thompson was wise and warm as Kent, Arian Moayed (who I loved in Bengal Tiger) was very good as Edgar, though he had some wacky staging to contend with.  I thought all three ladies were fine, but the young gal playing Cordelia has some posture issues (what IS it with young actresses and slouching?!?!), so it made her opening costume look quite unfortunate.  I think there’s a fine Fool in Bill Irwin, but I had a really hard time understanding what he was saying.  He seemed to be mumbling and swallowing his words a lot, so it became difficult to catch his dialogue.  I will say he had wonderful chemistry with Sam Waterston, so they had some nice moments together.  I just wish I could’ve understood him more.  The Fool does have some wonderful dialogue.  Oh well.

I feel like I complained a lot, and I honestly did enjoy myself.  I just wish I had liked it more.  Is it possible to enjoy a production but not really like it?  If so, I think that’s what happened here.  Maybe after more performances, it will take off.  I hope so.