Kenneth Branagh takes on the mad king on the heath in a very limited run Wyndham’s Theatre production of one of the great Shakespearean roles.
Aged Lear (Kenneth Branagh) has decided to split his kingdom between his three daughters. But, while the scheming diabolical siblings Regan (Melina-Joyce Bermudez) and Goneril (Deborah Alli) flatter him to get their rightful shares, Lear’s only good-hearted daughter Cordelia (Jessica Revell) refuses to lie or exaggerate, enraging the vain Lear; and her share is thus split between her sisters’ husbands Cornwall (Hughie O’Donnell) and Albany (Caleb Obediah). Cordelia leaves without a dowry to become the Queen of France and the noble courtier Kent (Eleanor de Rohan) is banished for taking her part in the quarrel. He disguises himself to serve Lear, but the scheming bastard Edmund (Corey Mylchreest) uses the fraught situation to eliminate his legitimate brother Edgar (Doug Colling) from the line of succession to Gloucester (Joseph Kloska); exploiting the political chaos that Lear’s wise Fool (Jessica Revell) foresaw…
Oddly, despite being 63 years old, Kenneth Branagh does just still seem too damn young to be playing King Lear. This Lear seems to be taking early retirement rather than stepping down just before death, which of course only makes it all the more galling for his two daughters when he insists on being treated like a king despite relinquishing the responsibility. Branagh as director has staggeringly eschewed an interval in this production and ploughs thru the obvious curtain after Gloucester’s blinding, which itself is always a late curtain. Instead the play verily gallops from there towards its shattering conclusion. Jessica Revel seizes the opportunity to play Cordelia and the Fool with both hands, while Chloe Fenwick-Brown rather unexpectedly makes a scene-stealing impression as Oswald, a lackey every bit as sinister as his master; who relishes being boorish to Lear.
Jon Bausor’s stark set design of mighty slabs in a semicircle and a video screen with a giant circle overhead suggests Stonehenge under an all-seeing uncaring eye of heaven. There is a similarly neolithic feel to the costumes, as well as the memorable introduction of the entire ensemble fighting with long staffs until Lear stands forth as King with the staffs touching above his head as a gigantic crown. Yet for all that Branagh is not a rough warrior, but a remarkably charming Lear, until roused. And indeed his madness is more like Hamlet’s feint than screaming desolation on the heath. One could imagine, thanks to Revell’s doubling, if Branagh intends us to wonder if Lear, banished by his children, delusionally imagines himself to be comforted by the child he banished. Brief mercy in a world all dark, and comfortless.
This was a brisk and energetic production of one of Shakespeare’s great tragedies with one of his great exponents showing the ease with which the verse can trip forth.
4/5
King Lear continues its run at Wyndham’s Theatre until the 9th of December.
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