For its Shakespeare slot this season the Crescent is mounting perhaps the greatest of all his tragedies – King Lear. That’s the one about sibling rivalry and a powerful dad – a bit like Logan Roy in ‘Succession’ with buckets of blood thrown in.

Old King Lear decides (or rather cannot decide) which of his three daughters to leave his kingdom to, so puts on a contest to see who can make the most narcistic appeal to him. The two elder ones, Goneril and Regan, are both smooth political operators and gush insincerities whilst Cordelia the youngest is apparently so choked up with love she cannot express it in words. Bad move – dad banishes her.

What follows in a nutshell is that the King goes mad, the daughters, their houses and their armies set about destroying each other and – again like Succession – a most unlikely outsider ends up holding the crown. Oh, and there’s big storm both literal and metaphoric.

As his tragedies go, King Lear is probably the most plot heavy and when planning their approach, the director should consider this and be looking to get their audience onside with simplicity.

I confess that along with poor vocal delivery, complicated and irrelevant personal crusades usually bring on a ‘Bad Bard-Coma’ in me.  So, when I read Jaz Davison’s programme notes about how she directed King Lear with a LGBTQIA take I feared the worst.

Picture by Graeme Braidwood Photography. s

There is not a set designer as such in the credits but rather a production designer, Patrick Ryan who I presume was responsible for designing the unique acting space. This consists of a tight traverse with end entrances plus one in the middle of the stage side. There were also acting platforms at the end of the seating rows and additional use was made of the gallery. Of course, everyone couldn’t have full sight line for every piece of action but for me it was immersive and worked well.

In the centre of the traverse there was a solitary oval dais where the King opens the play by turning like he’s being microwaved whilst the cast (all dressed in black save for hen-party style sashes in the colour of their respective houses) emerge from dark shadows to join him.  Everything is dark and gloomy as they are introduced to the King and us. It was at that point that I realised this was rather a clever opening which subtly sucks us in and then allows the story telling to begin in earnest.

With there being no set nor costume to speak of it really is up to the actors to deliver and hold the attention. Some judicious cutting made for free flowing action and the fight scenes were all handled very well indeed under skills of fight captain Aaron Shelton, who also plays a very strong Edmund. The idea to dispense with swords and fight with daggers was a good one.

Picture by Graeme Braidwood Photography. s

It was nice to see one my favourite actors from back in the day on the Crescent stage again, Stephen Message who gave a masterful performance as the Duke of Kent, diction, posture and delivery all spot on. Likewise, hail the return of the rich and smooth coffee-voiced veteran Mike Venables as the Duke of Gloucester as he goes the full gambit from jovial lord to pitiful blind man when his eyes get gouged out.

Logan Grendon makes a solid Crescent debut as the Duke of Cornwall.

Zoe Frances, Lorna Rose and Hannah Roche as the three sisters Regan, Goneril and Cordelia all let their characters shine through the text.

Patrick Ryan does not quite cut the mustard as the King. He’s not commanding when he should be, not mad enough when he should be and overall lacks the lustre needed to wear the Lear crown

There were times when the actors nearly broke through the fourth wall and talked directly to us – if only this approach had been allowed to go full throttle and be consistent throughout, the result would have been a compelling success rather than more of a patchwork of the good, the bland and the uneven.

I should add that I am all for inclusive theatre and an early champion of colour blindness in casting, but am thankful that the director’s queer take didn’t get in the way of the words of the most important person in the rehearsal room – in fact if she hadn’t have written it in the programme notes – I wouldn’t have known.

King Lear runs until November 30 at the Crescent Theatre. Click here for times, tickets and more information.

***

Review by Euan Rose

Euan Rose Reviews