REVIEWS REVIEWS
Total Darkness. Dramatic, eerie sounds. The scene is set for the tragedy of
King Lear, and the gradual unravelling of the plot of his daughters to gain
control of the Kingdom.
Lighting designer, Paul Pyant, pulled out all the stops. The lighting
effects imaginatively set the sombre mood. With the majority of the play set
in semi-darkness, directed spotlights, torches, flames, highlight the
characters' faces and actions. The storm was a cacophony of coloured
strobe lights — accompanied by deafening thunder, wind, rain — so vivid that
one had to keep one's eyes shut.
Working alongside the lighting, Alison Chitty has designed a very minimalist
set — a simple floor made up of white tiles eight feet square which reflect
the lighting beautifully, and with different intensities to indicate the
mood of the scene. Spaced around the tiles were drawn two concentric white
squares. Two enormous oak doors were set in the middle of the semi-circular
white wall at the rear of the set. In semi-darkness the actors' shadows
were thrown onto the white wall, either side of the doors, highlighting
confrontation and discord, and being larger than life the images gave a very
powerful effect. The doors themselves were used in every scene, as an
entrance, exit, closure of a theme. They crashed, they banged, they swung
gently, they stood open to let in back-lighting. Very effective.
The Music and Sound artist, Adam Cork, who has written music specifically
for this production, produced an intriguing modern score which, together
with the lighting and set, enable us to feel Lear's agony. The Fight Director, Malcolm Ransom, has devised some very realistic knife fights with blood and gore liberally covering the white tiles, and the gouging out of Gloucester's eyes was almost too much. The costumes were simplicity itself — the 'good' characters in cream or white, and the 'evil' ones in black, with the others in grey patchwork outfits. Long coats, long plain gowns, leather jackets, trousers, boots portraying no particular era.
The Creative Team has produced an admirable setting for a difficult play.
The family's disintegration, rivalry, jealousy, were thought provokingly
portrayed in a fast moving production. The outstanding actor was David Warner as Lear. We saw a King in his dotage. He was portrayed as a gentle
man who has underestimated Goneril and Regan's ambitions, played by Lou
Gish and Zoe Thwaites. He wanted to retire gracefully but found the disposal
of his Kingdom's land the centre of intrigue and hatred. In the end he
loses all three daughters to poison, suicide, hanging. Along the way we saw
his compassion for Edgar (Jo Stone-Fewings), his humour with Fool (John
Ramm), his despair at Cordelia's death (Kay Curram). His increasingly
scruffy, unkempt appearance portrayed a King on the edge of sanity, yet we
could empathise with his situation. This is a powerful production by Steven Pimlott — its theme of family discord as relevant today as it was in Shakespeare's. © JMB
“King Lear” is in repertoire at Chichester from the 7th May to the 10th September, 2005.
