A Review of King Lear by the Royal Shakespeare Academy

A Review of King Lear by the Royal Shakespeare Academy

First of all I would like to say that the Swan theatre in Stratford

was excellent. The three levels were used excellently, people were

walking on all the three levels, arguing with each other, and making

announcements, people were talking from the different floors and

moving on all the different levels, but somehow through some great

timing it never became confusing, it was a feature that could have

confused the audience but it was executed well. There were hundreds of

lights, and props were used well even if there were only really a few

tables, chairs and a bathtub and a curtain, the actors were dancing on

the tables and later the chairs were used as obstacles to show the

chaos and looked a lot dirtier to emphasise the anarchy of the second

half of the play, the bathtub was used for Poor Tom (Edgar) to hide

in. The stage was right in front of the audience, so you felt like you

were right in the heart of the action and sometimes you were. Now I

didn't really know what to think when I came to this play I had seen

one Shakespearean production before and it wasn't that impressive but

this changed all that. The actors and actresses were brilliant, but

the only major fault was the fact that King Lear was young and if I am

being really picky he was of a different ethnic background to his

daughters.

The actor who played King Lear played it with great power and strength

he showed that he was a King but he played the insanity excellently.

The best actresses were the ones that played Reagan and Goneril. They

both played the role powerfully and convinced me that they were evil.

The role of Edgar was acted perfectly. He changed his voice when he

was talking to his father the Duke of Gloucester, he moved differently

when he changed role, he put on make up, acted a little bit insane

when he was poor Tom and changed his acting when he put on a mask when