#chichester theatre
Ian McKellen as King Lear, Chichester, 2017
I saw this! I saw this! McKellen was great (of course) - from the first scene you could see he was the edge of losing his shit. At times doddery and vulnerable but then there would be moments of utter poise and strength, before switching to terrifying and vicious.
Cordelia was Tamara Lawrance (who recently played an excellent Viola in the National’s Twelfth Night) and she was brilliantly natural but forceful and a believeable leader of the French army.
The elder sisters were wooooonderful, too - as different as an apple to a crab - but equally capable of holding the stage. An unusually sympathetic Goneril, and a giggly and slightly intoxicated Regan.
Gloucester was just lovely (I spent ages trying to work out where I knew him from until I yelled out ALIEN 3 as we were getting drinks in the interval), and the post-blinding scenes were heartwrenching.
Edmund was devilishly charming, while Edmund was suitably earnest, and gradually fell to pieces seeing his dad so abused.
Set design was FABULOUSLY simplistic, based around a circular stage (the great thing about the Minerva is you have a great view wherever you sit) with REAL RAIN for the storm scene, and a gigantic portrait of Lear to open the play (see pic above).
But the best thing about it? Seriously. The fight choreography. It was orchestrated by Kate Waters and fuck me it was good. Like - they’re actually going to kill each other during the final duel kind of good. Edgar fought with a staff and he was full on slamming that thing down just inches from Edmund’s head. And the various stabbings and scuffles didn’t have that ‘stage fighty’ vibe to them - they were scrappy and up close and visceral. Literally the first thing we said to each other as we left the theatre was ‘oh my god the fight choreography’ - I mean, how often does that happen?
Chichester is good for Lear. I saw Frank Langella there a few years ago and it was similarly stunning. Highly recommend if you can make it.
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