Storms rage, window blow, hearts crack, and just about everything you want to happen, and that should, happens in this "King Lear," directed brilliantly by Daniel Sullivan, now at the Delacorte!
For those of us who love evil bitches--and who doesn't, girls???--there is that fun loving sister act, Goneril and Regan! They are played by Annette Bening and Jessica Hecht with such malice aforethought that, at curtain call, some audience members booed the actresses, not because they were not good, but because they so much were, at embodying these reviled characters.
Goneril and Regan are some sister act. What was interesting for me, specifically, was, as I was watching this play, in my head, I was also watching and recalling Jane Smiley's "A Thousand Acres" which I had recently reacquainted myself with in preparation for 'Lear' In fact, anyone doing 'Lear," including this cast, should read Smiley's novel, as prep. It is interesting, because, while Smiley works every ounce of the play into her story, her Lear, farmer Larry Cook, deserves everything he gets, while Ginny and Rose (the Goneril and Regan here) are not quite the monsters they are in Shakespeare. I completely relate to Ginny and Rose. By the time we got to the end of "King Lear," I wanted to see Goneril's and Regan's eyes put out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This production offers several pleasures, the first being a story of regrets, resentments and recriminations---the cornerstone of all family dynamics, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!! The second is the language--the storm speech, "how sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child,"--and an ensemble working at the top of their form. This play is a killer for both cast and audience; it demands so much of the audience emotionally--in fact, I am still exhausted now!!!!!!!!!--but to the cast add to that the physical demands made upon them, and you have people who have no energy left except to perform this piece. I bet most of them rest during the day.
At 6'4" tall, John Lithgow could be the tallest Lear on record. But when big men fall, they fall hard, and Lithgow's fall, with the fury and intensity of his vocal pyrotechnics, which take up most of the evening, is nothing less than extraordinary. A more chilling descent into madness I have never seen. If this were playing indoors, he would be a TONY contender next season!
The sisters are evil. That Goneril, she's a cunning one, and Annettte Bening speaks the verse beautifully, and with chillingly cold fury. But watch out for Jessica Hecht, as Regan; butter wouldn't melt in her mouth, until she removes those kid gloves, and becomes one sadistic monster. This is the role I currently have my eye on, darlings, and, with that, I offer a note to Miss Hecht. Jessica, darling, I love you; you are one of my favorite actresses, but upon your opening speech, I detected a little "New Yorkese" in your cadence. This seemed to vanish as the play went on; either I adjusted to the cadence, or Miss Hecht improved; I cannot tell. But this is a pitfall to be watched.
The only other problem was the blood. It didn't work. When Regan goes to put out the eyes of the Duke of Gloucester, in a sequence staged so sadistically, I thought I was back home watching Investigation Discovery, Regan is purposely dressed in a diaphanous white gown. When she bends down to stab out one of the Duke's eyes, blood is supposed to spurt, getting all over her dress. Too bad it didn't happen. Not only would it have been a great visual metaphor for Regan--the more dangerous of Lear's daughters-- but it would have ruined that bitch's designer dress!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And where does this production leave the fair Cordelia????? Most productions have her played so passively, she makes Jennifer Jones as Bernadette seem like a tramp, by comparison. But Jess Collins, an actress I do not know, with director Daniel Sullivan, find the spine in Cordelia. We see, up front, that she has her sisters' numbers from the start, and she wants no part of them. And when she returns, in Act Four, it is less as a penitent--what does she have to be sorry about???--but as an assertive figure of authority, who can very clearly go one on one with her bitch sisters! It is a welcome and refreshing interpretation of Cordelia.
Jay O. Sanders is a revelation, as the Duke Of Kent. Having seen him so much on the "Law And Order" franchises, I was worried about him speaking the Shakespearean verse, but he does it with such facility, one would think he'd been doing it from birth. And just who is guy, Steven Boyer, as the Fool? He is the stage find of the season, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But, how can one not love "King Lear?" If you have any familial embitterment--and who doesn't, darlings??????????--you can relate. It is my favorite of all the Shakespeares. I cannot wait till--and it will happen, darlings!!!!--MERYL STREEP plays it, and then, with the daughters changed to sons, I can put my sociopathic stamp on Regan!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That will be something to see! Meanwhile, do not miss Lithgow And Company, at the Delacorte. Some of the best work I have seen on the New York stage in a long while!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It's what we go to the theater for, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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