"King Lear" at Shakespeare Theatre Company

 

Shakespeare Theatre Company production photo by DJ Corey Photography

After not going to DC (or seeing any theater in DC) for many years, it seems a bit odd that we returned for our third trip in less than four months, but this was actually the first of the trips we planned, specifically so we could see this one play. Why seek out Yet Another King Lear? Specifically because of the actor playing Lear, Broadway star Patrick Page, who also happens to be a college friend of my wife's. We've seen him perform before (most recently in Hadestown on Broadway), but this seemed to be an ideal match between actor and role.

The Play

I don't need to spell this out. It's Shakespeare's King Lear. They've trimmed it down to only about two hours total, which should be fine, though I think it led to a couple of issues I'll touch on in the next section. Suffice it to say that it's a great play, and one that generally lives or dies by the actor playing the lead role. Lear has a really high percentage of the lines in the play, and even more so in this cut of the script. So this is very much Patrick Page's show.

The Production

This is the same, fairly small, theater where we saw Jane Anger last December, so it's a pretty intimate setting for a Shakespeare play. But that intimacy is great when it gives you a chance to see an actor like Page up close. What a treat! Page is a wonderfully nuanced actor, and watching his Lear descend into madness, fighting it all the way, is a wonder to behold. His interplay with his Fool (Michael Milligan) was just a delight. Probably the best choice made in the production was to have the Fool play his role quite straight, with almost no clowning. As the wise a restrained one, he emphasizes to Lear and the audience just how dramatically Lear declines.

Probably the other key role in the production is Matthew J. Harris as Edgar (and Poor Tom). Again showing restraint, Director Simon Godwin keeps Edgar/Tom in control, despite the machinations of his bastard brother Edmund (Julian Elijah Martinez). Craig Wallace does a good job as their father, Gloucester, who along with Kent (Shirine Babb) manages to be about the only character who stays true to himself (or anyone else), not that it does him any good.

My main issue with the choices made in the production come with the daughters (who after all are the point of conflict in the script). Between casting, costuming, and some script editing, we know from the outset that Goneril (Rosa Gilmore) and Regan (Stephanie Jean Lane) are very femme, highly sexualized, characters who are united in their opposition to both Lear and Cordelia (Cailen Fu), who never gets a chance to demonstrate the reasons why she was supposedly Lear's favorite. At least with Edmund we get to hear why he is behaving the way he is, though his shifting allegiances come across less as plans and opportunism (as I read the script) and more as kind of stumbling from one chance to another. Ultimately the only motivations left to Goneril, Regan, and Edmund are greed and kinky lust, which cheapens their part of the story considerably. I'm not sure how that sort of misogyny still creeps into a modern adaptation of this play.

The modern setting, other than the weird kinks of the daughters, works quite well. It's kind of a mystery how the one female character who initially shows any agency or power (Kent) got that, and why she then disguises herself as a man for the remainder of the play. It just feels like the gender politics of this ficton weren't thought through very completely.

Bottom Line

As I noted up front, however, a production of King Lear rests on the titular character, and Patrick Page is more than capable of carrying the show on his shoulders. Between his booming voice and his physical virtuosity, he dominates the stage as Lear ought. There is enough strength in his supporting cast to make it work, but Page's voice and body carry the show.

It's fascinating. Weird at times, but fascinating. And well worth the chance to see a master craftsman doing great work, up close.

The show has been extended through April 16th. I suspect it could go even longer if they can keep the cast together. For all the flaws in the direction of the show, the artistry of the key characters still shines through. It's a really good evening of theater. Go see it for yourself.