I recently went to see one of the Sydney Theatre Company’s major, flagship productions of the year, Neil Armfield’s production of KING LEAR with Geoffrey Rush as Lear.
I have been procrastinating about writing up the review. Not that I didn’t enjoy the production. On the contrary! It’s just this a major work and I want to honour it with writing a piece that is worthy and not glib and perfunctory.
One of my treasured theatre reference texts is Dr David F. Burt’s book The Drama 100 : A Ranking Of The Greatest Plays Of All Time (Facts On File 2008). I am leafing through his choice selection…The Cherry Orchard, A Doll’s House, Death Of A Salesman…wonderful dramas.
Perched right at the top….sitting at Numero Uno…is William Shakespeare’s King Lear. Burt opens his article with, ‘For its unsurpassed combination of sheer terrifying force and its existential and cosmic reach, King Lear ranks as drama’s supreme achievement.’
For any theatre director, tackling King Lear is a major challenge. Even if you are Neil Armfield, one of Australia’s most prominent, long standing directors.
In his program note Armfield writes, ‘this production has been 50 years in the cooking. When I did Hamlet with Richard Roxburgh as The Prince, with Geoffrey Rush as Horatio, Max Cullen as Polonius, and Jacek Koman as Claudius, I was exactly the right age for the play. With Lear, I probably would have had an interesting crack at it back in the nineteen eighties, but I think that it’s a play that benefits from having lived a life.’
In my view, the long gestation period Armfield has taken to conjure up his King Lear has resulted in a major achievement.
King Lear takes us on one hell of a journey. Armfield’s words again. “This is a play about what happens if you take everything away from a person. What does a person discover? It raises questions….What is life? What is society? What is the human mind? What is love? It is only by experiencing its absence that the power of the idea can be experienced.”
The show’s design aesthetic is stark, pared back. “In the design work with Bob Cousins we have worked on how much we can take out of the space and still tell the story. Is there a correlation between the taking away of visual distraction and the clarity of the story?’
There is little visual distraction in this Lear! The stage is bare through the whole play. In keeping with this ‘style’ of production, Alice Babidge’s costumes are contemporary, subtle and in character. This production is the opposite of showy, and ostentatious. At the beginning, there are some barren golden streamers strewn across the stage…
Armfield again: “This production feels like the hardest thing I have done because I am wrestling with the extremity of the ideas in the play all them time. I’m trying to meet them with the dignity and the power of performance and all the tools in my art to try and frame the ideas in this extraordinary play.”
‘The dignity and the power of performance.’ That’s one great turn of phrase. It’s a turn of phrase that his performers serve very well.
As Lear Geoffrey Rush gives a mighty performance. As chance would have it I sat next to Geoffrey’s Los Angeles agent. He had flown in for just for the one night to see one of his major clients. We chatted at interval. He said, ‘isn’t Geoffrey just wonderful.’ I concurred. Who wouldn’t have!
The twice Oscar winner was supported by a dynamite cast all working well from the very experienced such as Robyn Nevin as the Fool, Max Cullen as Gloucester, Helen Thomson as Regan, Helen Buday as Goneril and Colin Moody as the Duke of Cornwall to the ‘young guns’ making a great impression, including Eryn Jean Norvill as Cordelia, Meyne Wyatt as a very creepy Edmund, and Mark Leonard Winter who was exceptional as Edgar.
The play’s famous storm scene was powerfully, evocatively staged with ‘rain’ pelting down on the stage, massive blasts of wind blowing in from a huge, off stage fan, and driving percussion from musos Simon Barker and Phillip Slater who were playing from box seats, situated high up in the auditorium, adjacent to the stage.
What a storm! And oh, what a ride! You come out of the theatre knowing you have seen something special. Recommended, KING LEAR is playing the Ros Packer theatre, Hickson Road, Millers Point until Saturday 9th January, 2016.