 | King Lear |  |
"How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is
To have a thankless child!" Act I, scene iv
Written: 1605
Ninagawa Company/RSC ; 1999 Stratford, UK
Starring :
Reviewed on : 2001-09-30 14:15:55 | Yukio Ninagawa's Lear was very interesting, but for a long time I couldn't decide whether I liked it or not. I do know that I loved everything that was overtly Ninagawa (the set, the music, the direction, the costumes). I particularly loved the staging and how it interlaced with the music. The set consisted of two large intricately carved wooden-like doors and would open up to make the stage twice it's length. Ninagawa would then have his actors stride on to the beat of this invigorating music. It was sort of like a cross between Tarantino and Fellini. Quite a combination, wouldn't you say? The only problem was the acting, really. Nigel Hawthorne, perhaps surprisingly, was the worst (relatively speaking) -- playing Lear suprisingly one-note and overall as if he was senile before he was insane. The rest of the cast was competent, if nothing special, save for Michael Maloney as Edgar (giving surprising depth to a character I never particularly liked) and Hiroyuki Sanada's Fool, who was a delight (though a bit jarring since he had a totally different style than everyone else).
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Sir John Gilbert, R.A.,
Lear and the Fool
Reviews
|  | Royal Shakespeare Company
March 4, 2010 |  | Everyman Theatre
July 22, 2009 |  | Theatre Project Si
November 13, 2008 |  | A Young Vic/Headlong Theatre/Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse co-production
November 5, 2008 | | Shakespeare’s Globe
June 1, 2008 |  | Royal Shakespeare Company
December 5, 2007 |  | Stratford Festival of Canada
August 4, 2007 |  | Goodman Theatre
September 19, 2006 |  | Marin Shakespeare Company
July 8, 2006 |  | Shotgun Players
May 13, 2006 |  | Actors' Shakespeare Project
October 1, 2005 |  | Piven Theatre Workshop
2001 |  | Chicago Shakespeare Theatre
2001 |  | AUN Company
2000 |  | Ninagawa Company/RSC
1999 |
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