SKIP IT: An epically empty, unaffecting “King Lear”
When I first saw the advertising for Shakespeare Theatre Company’s King Lear, I was a bit underwhelmed. Just a black-and-white photo of Patrick Page? Sometimes theatres have an initial promotional image and then change it… except they didn’t. The image told me nothing about their production, other than there’s the formidable Page.
Turns out, that is really all there is. It seems like there will be many who will disagree with my UnProfessional Opinion (especially the Washington Post), but I’m proud to offer everyone an alternative perspective on this acclaimed production. Shakespeare Theatre Company has presented a King Lear that is void of the rich characterizations, dramatic themes, and narrative intensity that make the play extraordinary and moving. I appreciate the trimming of runtime, but not at the expense of anything of substantive impact.
Let’s set the scene: King Lear (Patrick Page) has decided to split his kingdom amongst his three daughters Goneril (Rosa Gilmore), Regan (Stephanie Jean Lane), and Cordelia (Lily Santiago), but only after expressing their love for him. Unlike her sisters, Cordelia refuses to overexaggerate her love, and thus Lear disowns his favorite daughter. Goneril and Regan undermine their father’s authority and reject him from their homes, leaving Lear to weather the storms, both outside and within him, as he begins to go mad.
As with his Much Ado About Nothing, it seems like Simon Godwin once again gets enamored with some idea and William Shakespeare keeps getting in its way. With Much Ado, the tv news station concept was fun and over-the-top, but he continually had to find ways to make the play work within the production. It became a goofy spectacle without anything of substance. I admit, I do not think that play itself is good, but that is not an excuse to just steamroll it with some concept. With King Lear, Godwin turned a rather profound, iconic play into an expensively cheap, mindless, political action thriller.
This production is a storytelling disappointment. Simon Godwin knows how to tell his story (as with his Much Ado), but can he tell the play’s story? It seems like he directed one scene, then another, and then another, and finagled some way to transition in-between them. There is nothing driving this production’s narrative. I was frequently puzzled how we got from one point to the next. Imagine this play is a stunning pearl necklace. Godwin will put much effort into crafting each individual pearl, but neglects the string entirely, instead just taping the pearls together with unimportant visuals and movement.
King Lear has many strings of use, but the two that I find essential are the family dynamics and Lear’s descent to madness. Both were bafflingly downplayed or excised entirely. Lear’s complicated relationships with his daughters and his worsening decline of control (politically, mentally, and familywise) fuel the play. If those elements are altered or diminished, what drives the action? What pulls me in, gives me a reason to care? The insidiously cruel, manipulative Goneril and Regan are now nothing more than the equivalent of Cinderella’s bratty entitled stepsisters. Cordelia is barely defined or given any narrative weight. So at the end of the play, when they are all dead, why am I to care? What was their impact? And then there’s Patrick Page.
I love Patrick Page, but he is partly why this production does not work for me. Visually, Page is physically imposing and strong of body and mind. He is literally unbelievable as Lear — he is never on the verge of losing everything (his kingdom and his own self). Page is a dramatic force, with a fantastic vocal instrument. Perhaps he could be a great Lear in fifteen years — his performance reads more as a Claudius or even Macbeth. But when his Lear is such an unwavering force (physically and mentally — except for the ever so slight mental decline during the end), it does not sufficiently motivate the actions of the plot. He was telling a different story with the same script, and that dramatic disconnect left me unengaged the entire time.
I am truly stumped as to why this production has received such bombastic praise. Putting aside my own feelings or expectations of the play itself, as a production, I did not find any element particularly exceptional. None of the performances or production design elements were especially notable or even bad (except for some projections that I found a bit visually overkill). I consider it to be an awful mutilation of the story of King Lear, but if I analyze this story as told, it lacks clarity, compelling stakes between ALL the characters, and a narrative through line to create any sort of dramatic impact. Not only is this not William Shakespeare’s King Lear, it is just not good or worthwhile. To me, this production is much ado about nothing, so it is my UnProfessional Opinion that you SKIP King Lear.
King Lear by William Shakespeare
Directed by Simon Godwin
Shakespeare Theatre Company
February 24 — April 16, 2023
