Storyline: The aging King of England wants to lay down his burdens and
retire, choosing to divide his kingdom between his three daughters in
proportion to how much they profess to love him. Two of them go along with
him and flatter him with protestations of everlasting affection. The third
finds it demeaning and refuses to put into words the love she thinks her
entire life has demonstrated. In a fit, he disowns her and banishes her from
his Kingdom. Soon the loss of his power and his regret at his act drive him
insane and he ends up wandering the country in rags, while the two
inheriting daughters and their husbands battle for supremacy. His banished
daughter allies with France to invade England and return her to power. The
entire country becomes a battle ground and the royal family are casualties.
Keach comes to Washington from time to time and each time
seems to be a special event. His most recent was his Helen Hayes Award
winning turn as the disgraced former president undergoing examination in
Frost/Nixon
at the Kennedy Center. That wasn't his first Helen Hayes Award for a
performance at the Kennedy Center. His first was for The Kentucky Cycle
in 1994. At the Shakespeare, he earned a nomination for his Richard III
in 1991 and again for Macbeth in 1996. He may well be looking at
another, for his Lear is nothing short of spectacular both in the breadth of
its reach and for the way he works with his on-stage colleagues. Since the
play begins with the King in full control of his court and his country, his
early images are of swaggering self centeredness, but as the evening
progresses he becomes more and more a mere shadow of his former self
while
retaining a clear mental link to his royal heritage.
Falls is the Artistic Director of Chicago's Goodman
Theatre, one of the premier regional theaters in the country and recipient
of the 1992 Regional Theatre Tony Award. At the Goodman he has directed many
notable productions and he has a long record on Broadway as well, including
his 1999 revival of Death of a Salesman, starring Brian Dennehy, for
which he received the Tony Award for best direction of a play. He returned
to Broadway with Denney earlier this year with his production of Desire
Under the Elms. Fans of musicals recall his vibrantly visual staging of
the Elton John, Tim Rice version of Aida. Here, with the assistance
of a noted design team including Walt Spangler, whose set for Signature
Theatre's Les
Misérables was nominated for a Helen Hayes Award this year, and Ana Kuzmanic, who provided the mixed bag of costumes for
Argonautika
here last year, Falls builds a world of color at the start and then robs it
of all hues as disaster piles on top of disaster, leaving a crumbling world
of gray.
Keach is surrounded by a cast of quite uniform high
quality. There isn't a disappointing performance in a significant role in
the entire play. The trio of daughters, so different from each other, are
the super-sluts Regan and Goneril played by Kim Martin-Cotten and Kate
Arrington, contrasting with the steely sharp Cordelia of Larua Odeh. Their
men are equally individualistic, with
Joaquín Torres providing a fascinating conversion from favored son of the
King's supporter to the naked beggar who becomes his former-liege's guide.
Edward Gero is that supporter of the King whose fate reduces him literally
to blind obedience. He matches Keach in his ability to move his character
through multiple stages of descent from pride of place to his final demise,
amidst innumerable body bags destined for an anonymous mass grave.
Written by William Shakespeare. Directed by
Robert Falls. Fight direction by Rick Sordelet. Design: Walt Spangler (set)
Ana Kuzmanic (costumes) Michael Philippi (lights) Richard Woodbury (sound)
Carol Rosegg (photography) Lloyd Davis, Jr. (stage manager). Cast: Norman
Aronovic, Kate Arrington, David Blixt, Stacey Cabaj, Aubrey Deeker, Conrad
Feininger, Billy Finn, Chris Genebach, Edward Gero, Dieterich Gray, Dan
Istrate, Gary Neal Johnson, Stacy Keach, Dan Lawrence, William LeDent,
Andrew Long, Matt Baxter Luceno, Brian MacDonald, Kim Martin-Cotten, Hugh
Nees, Laura Odeh, Steve Pickering, Carol Randolph, Jonno Roberts, Jeffrey
Scott, Joaquín Torres, Amanda Tudor, Scott Westerman, Howard Witt.
|
