King Lear, Echo Theatre, The Q, 30 Nov-3 Dec

 

"King Lear" is one of the Shakesperean plays where I always have a little difficulty - the setup requires multiple characters to be excessively gullible, it's incredibly grim, and Lear himself finds himself subject to his fate largely due to his own monstrous ego, rather than because of any more sympathetic fault. This production certanily owns the grimness, using simple staging, minimal but precise lighting by Zac Harvey and a soundtrack with dark undertones by Neville Pye and Sophia Carlton. Set in an almost pagan world (the invocations of a whole pantheon of gods in this production are gently underlined), costumed by Helen Wotjas in a stylish combination of now-and-then, Joel Horwood 's production serves the play with simplicity and skill.

Leading the cast is a titanic performance by Karen Vickery, by turns playful, wrathful, disturbing, emotional and mind-bogglingly human. We're drawn into her foolish Queen, demanding the treatment of her title despite having given up the responsiblity, disturbed as she curses out her daughters, overwhelmed by her rages, and ultimately touched by the broken person she becomes.

It's a murderer's row of talent in the cast, from the reliable strength of Michael Sparks, Lainie Hart, Natasha Vickery, Jim Adamik, Josh Wiseman, to emerging performers like Lewis McDonald, Holly Ross, Glenn Brighenti, Petronella Von Tienen and Tom Cullen, and new-to-me faces like Christina Falsone, and all find their moments of impact.  There's not a weak link in the performers, whether it be Hart's haughty rage, Brighenti's snippy servileness, McDonald's sneeringly lustful evil, Wiseman's attempts to hold onto his sanity while lost inside a persona, Falsone's extreme loyalty, Sparks' vulnerability, Adamik's righteous rage, Von Tienen's gentle joys as the fool and compassion as Cordelia, or Cullen's brutal joy in cruelty. 

Special mention to stage manager Maggie Hawkins who does a hell of a job in setting the scattered earth in act one and bringing it to organised piles for the beginning of act two, and has carefully drilled the cast into smooth set transitions. 

If you're interested in grand powerful epic Shakespeare (while I could spot a few trims in the text, this still winds up at around 3 hours 20 minutes), this is certainly one to catch.