Last night Mary and I attended an invition guest night of the RSC's King Lear. Should you ever want to go to the New London Theatre, which is near the Royal Opera House and the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, you will again need a guide dog and a compass, and even when you find it, it's not that obvious.
So much has been written about this prodution staring Ian Mckellen as the King that of course anticipation was high. Among the RSC's guests were Sir Derek Jacobi, Sir Antony Sher, Patrick Stewart, Tim West, Dame Eileen Atkins etc etc, so I had a little sympathy for Ian McKellen having to perform in front of his peers. However, that wasn't necessary, because he gave a sublime performance, and Trevor Nunn's direction made one think again about some of Shakespeare's lines and their meaning. I thought Gloucester - not an easy part (William Gaunt) was beautifully played, and the Jester (Sylvestor McCoy), in theory an easy part, was moving; his affection for the King and his comic timing were in the great tradition of the RSC.
I have now seen two truly great Lears - Ian Holm and Ian Mckellen - and I shall not be attempting to pick between them. Tomorrow, I'm off to see Othello at the Donmar, with Chiwetel Ejiofor as Othello and Ewan McGregor as Iago, and I will report back on Thursday morning.
So much has been written about this prodution staring Ian Mckellen as the King that of course anticipation was high. Among the RSC's guests were Sir Derek Jacobi, Sir Antony Sher, Patrick Stewart, Tim West, Dame Eileen Atkins etc etc, so I had a little sympathy for Ian McKellen having to perform in front of his peers. However, that wasn't necessary, because he gave a sublime performance, and Trevor Nunn's direction made one think again about some of Shakespeare's lines and their meaning. I thought Gloucester - not an easy part (William Gaunt) was beautifully played, and the Jester (Sylvestor McCoy), in theory an easy part, was moving; his affection for the King and his comic timing were in the great tradition of the RSC.
I have now seen two truly great Lears - Ian Holm and Ian Mckellen - and I shall not be attempting to pick between them. Tomorrow, I'm off to see Othello at the Donmar, with Chiwetel Ejiofor as Othello and Ewan McGregor as Iago, and I will report back on Thursday morning.
1 Comments:
I enjoy your theatre reviews very much. May I humbly request a post towards the end of this month with your opinion of best production of the year?
I know that it will also interest us all to hear your opinion of the best book of the year (excluding any of yours of course!)
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