King Lear: Belarus Free Theatre at The Globe Theatre

Simply incredible. Rarely a show will have the full package of top notch acting, directing, creative ideas, atmosphere and soul, this production had it all, to the point where it is quite difficult to break it down and even begin to dissect why it blew me away.

I didn't know the storyline of King Lear, which raised a few eyebrows from the stewards who ushered me to my front row gallery seat which I had managed to get for free yesterday thanks to Spotlight. Surprised, because this show was performed in Belarusian and so I was unlikely to understand any of it at all. But the language barrier was no hindrance to my understanding of the play at all. There was a screen to the side of the stage which outlined the main plot summary of each scene and aside from that, it was surprisingly easy to follow. The physicality of performance meant that it was visually clear what was happening, but also the tone of voice and facial expressions gave all of the emotion that an audience member needed, it almost made me feel like I should always go to see theatre in different languages. Obviously, Shakespeare is renowned for his words, the poetic language, rhythms and puns and all of that would have been lost on me on this occasion, however, from my understanding, the translation into Belarusian kept the poetic nature of the text and it always felt melodic and lyrical.

One of the wonderful additions in this performance was the live music on stage, a piano, accordion and saxophone, and, of course, the power of singing which can be so electric when effectively used in a performance. When the daughters of King Lear initially declared their love for their father, they sang with a bluesy feel, as if in a jazz club, it made it seem modern and edgy, with slightly recognisable tunes but unknown words. However later, they used authentic Belarusian folk singing which was at times haunting and sent chills down my spine. It was similar to the choral singing that I saw in Teatr Zar's Essays On Suicide in Edinburgh in 2012 which was one of my favourite productions to date, the sound of the Eastern European language and the sound of that haunting singing just strikes me to my core. It is beautiful and wholly effective.

One of the musicians was the court's Fool, played by Chris Bone, who played the piano, saxophone and did some generally wonderful clowning around. I am not usually a fan of slapstick clowning but for some reason, in this, the fact that he was so English was at odds with the other cast members and the clowning seemed so authentically French that it just worked. He was totally engaging to watch. The other English speaking member of the cast was Michal Keyamo the King of France and the Announcer who I just loved. She had such a vibrant energy and looked like she was enjoying the performance as much as the audience enjoyed watching her.

However, to single these two out is almost unfair, because every single actor in this piece was perfect in their part. They were committed, they were in the moment, I believed every word that they said and act that they did, despite the minimal stage and lack of setting, they didn't need it, they were just there and I was transported to their world with them. The daughters looked crazy and edgy and beautiful, they were strong sexy women who were out to get what they wanted and totally rocked those fur coats and heels. Even Cordelia, the 'less evil' of the sisters, was out there and believable as a wild child. The side storyline of Edgar and Edmund slightly confused me at first as it felt like a completely separate story, but I came to love when Edgar was on stage. Aside from wondering if he had covered himself in real shit, when he played Poor Tom I was spellbound by his extravagant and camp performance.

The craziness of the world that they created meant that when King Lear descended into craziness himself it was believable and not contrived in the slightest, which I imagine could be a trap with this play. Aleh Sidorchyk was a radical and fairly young king, young at least to be giving his kingdom up, and his mourning of Cordelia was incredibly moving and allowed him to show so many changes in his character over the course of the play.

There was also some very clever directorial choices, the waltzes that were put in were perfect, always at moments where the characters were 'dancing around' a subject with the words and with their feet too. Also, the storm and the war, represented by the moving tarpaulin sheets, very effective, again with such minimal set.

This was a true example of how a big budget is not needed to make moving and educational theatre. This was Shakespeare in a modern world and is, I am going to say it, the best Shakespeare production that I have seen to date.

Definitely ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 

King Lear is on at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, London, for only two more performances: Friday 27^th September 2013 at 7.30pm and Saturday 28^th September 2013 at 2.00pm.