Leery

On Saturday, to the Rose at Kingston to see the Northern Broadsides production of King Lear, down from Halifax for the week. Just about a year since our last exposure to Lear, the Beale/NT one - which last, rather to my surprise, is still running.

Checking, I find that I went to both the Beale/NT version (references 1 and 2) and the Globe version (back in 2008, the first two posts at reference 3) twice. Not very convenient on this occasion as it closed the same evening and headed off for a last week at Newcastle-under-Lyme, where they have the effrontery to call their theatre in the round the New Vic. See reference 4.

A good solid production, cut down to about 2.5 hours including the interval, cut in such a way that I could maintain attention & comprehension throughout, slightly mangling some of the well-known bits in the process, but a much better job of accessible Shakespeare to my mind than the Globe has been managing of late. One loss was the sectary astronomical  of I/2/157. Another was the trial on the heath (III/6).

The primary plot - the tension between the needs of an old man, a power in decline, and those of his family and successors - done well. No music or dance interludes and they did brisk changes from one scene to the next; all good. Costumes vaguely of Shakepeare's time which I like, and lightly staged which I also liked. Strong northern accents which made me sit up when the closing couplet of a scene only rhymed when one of the words was pronounced with the short northern a (as in fast) rather than with the long southern a, which seemed odd, given that Shakespeare was southern. But despite a careful look, I cannot now track down the lines in question, so maybe I was imagining things.

Oswald camped up again which I find irritating. He held a position of some trust and while he might be a bit of a pain, I don't like it over cooked. We also lost the dignity of his death, when he has the presence of mind to try to take care of his funeral and his post bag before expiring. The busty blonde Goneril was a bit over cooked too. Edmund not evil enough.

The fighting was done with knives and clubs rather than with swords. Knives I do not like, although I guess they avoid the need for lots of fight training, trainers and health & safety people. Gloucester blinded at the back of the stage to strobe lighting, very tiresome. Edmund & Edgar final fighting done in slow motion, also rather tiresome and the sense of judicial duel rather lost.

House fairly full downstairs. Just one phone that I heard and some tittering at the wrong places.

Preceded by a visit to the nearby Ram and postceded by a visit to the slightly less nearby Stein's, where we had an entirely satisfactory and reasonably priced meal. Broth with liver dumplings followed by a German version of macaroni cheese (very good, aka Käsespätzle mit Salatbeilage), then half of BH's chicken lumps in a white sauce with boiled rice. Bavarian cheese cake (cooked not jelloed). Not sure about the wine, maybe a Spanish white with aromas of fennel, hay and exotic fruits.

Reference 1: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/sponsored-by-julius-bar.html.

Reference 2: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/leared-again.html.

Reference 3: http://pumpkinstrokemarrow.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=lear.

Reference 4: http://www.newvictheatre.org.uk/.