King Lear

Overview

For many actors, it is playing Hamlet, Macbeth or Lear that marks their career success. Perhaps not playing them in the local church town hall, but certainly on a recognised stage and with a substantial audience these are Shakespeare's big 'uns. Which means there is a an awful lot of expectation going into the performance that it live up to the Bard's best. John Bell's Lear, fortunately, wasn't a disappointment.

Though Bell might have become the name synonymous with Shakespeare in performance, in Australia at least, the company hasn't always lived up to expectations. But playing the titular character himself, John Bell comfortably embodied the arrogance that defines Lear, while never falling prey to a melodrama (this is the third time the actor has played Lear, so he should have it down by now). It seems it's a Bell Shakespeare company policy that actors will not attempt a false British accent when delivering their lines, which is a welcome relief; however, Susan Prior's Cordelia did stand out as being someone who has all too recently attended elocution lessons.

King Lear, for those unfamiliar with the story, is the tale of an old king who splits his kingdom among two of his three daughters after they profess their love for him. His third daughter, unwilling to play his game, is banished. As in any Shakespeare tragedy, what follows is conspiracy, eye-gouging, betrayal and death.

The staging was sparse but poignant — the play opens with a round elevation spinning centre stage, matched by a spherical curtain that circles it, creating a perfectly Shakespearean image of the world' s players being no match for the heavens that control us. While this does suggest that perhaps Lear's downfall comes not from his pride but rather from a force beyond his power, which would not be this reviewer's take on the situation, it reflects a recurrent theme in the play.

While by no means perfect — indeed the production ends with a fizzle where a bang should be, and earlier scenes lose their impact as a result — as a rendition of one of Shakespeare's most famous tragedies, it is a thoroughly enjoyable production. The banter between Lear and his fool is fast and witty, Regan and Goneril are perfectly malevolent, Edmund is as conspiring as Edgar is noble and all in all the result is a solid and suitably tragic production of Shakespeare's arrogant king.