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.

Much Ado About Nothing at The Old Vic

When I got on the bus afterwards there was a couple sitting next to me who had also just seen the play. They were discussing an email that the girl had received from her boss, not the play. That, to me, summed it up.

There are a number of people that I know, who would have considered this production to be almost perfect. It was clean and tidy, the costumes were nice, the acting was competent, it made sense out of Shakespeare and there was a dancing curtain call.
I, however, would have to agree with the title, in that any hype surrounding this play could only be much ado about nothing.

There was a slow start, I struggled to get into the story, it all seemed very general, very bland, very beige, from the set to the costumes to the acting. There were some nice 'pictures' set up, by that I mean if someone was to take a camera shot at the set at any one time the actors would be neatly balanced and it would look really quite good. But the whole production was rather two dimensional and completely lacking in soul or heart. I found myself watching scene changes and background acting avidly, most likely because the main scenes were just too boring.

There were some highlights however. I absolutely loved the song, performed by Kingsley Ben-Adir as Borachio. I am always a fan of the harmonica and the blues and this song was beautifully and hauntingly sang and amusingly accompanied by the ukelele. The dancing in the background, however, was far too distracting from what I considered to be the best moment of the play. We should have been given permission to enjoy that song without slapstick being thrown all over it.

The children also were a highlight whenever they appeared, but particularly at the start of the second half when we see them sitting, facing away from us towards the police officer. Some fantastic comic timing from Katherine Carlton as Beryl made me laugh out loud. I also liked the physicality of Beth Cooke who played Hero, particularly in the scene where her and the nurse were trimming the hedges and talking about Benedick's love for Beatrice. This was one of the better scenes, but again, it was a good scene in the old fashioned sense of a good play, my old drama teacher would have loved it, as would my grandparents. For me it was still lacking something.

I started to wonder if it was the subject matter that was causing me disinterest. As a Shakespeare comedy, much of the humour comes from hiding and overhearing and mistaken identities and I started to wonder if these were types of humour that are no longer relevant to a modern audience. I find it hard to suspend disbelief in these situations – just because someone wears a mask does not mean that you cannot recognise who it is. But then if the production was given more meaning, a more specific context and a bit more oomph, it should be made as relevant to a modern audience as a Jacobean one. 

I haven't even mentioned the lead actors, Vanessa Redgrave and James Earl Jones. I have seen a couple of films recently with Vanessa Redgrave, Blow Up and Trojan Women, both of which were superb, so I had very high hopes to see her perform at this stage in her career. I found her to be engaging to watch, her voice carried well up to the top circle and she had a nice spirit about her. It was all a bit 'safe' and for her generation, which is great for those viewers, just not so inspiring for me. As for James Earl Jones, I am aware of his accolades, however I spent many of his speeches worrying that he would not make it through. It was clear that he and Vanessa had a lovely friendship between them, it was just unfortunate that this was a little too obvious.

In all I found this production to be bland, confusing in context and lacking in anything that truly sparked my interest. I am sure that these actors are good but this production just did not show them at their best. I have been dying to see the Joss Whedon film of this play which had more excitement in the trailer as this show had in the full play. I would recommend this if you want to take your grandparents to a play that is safe and nice and beige. I would not recommend this as a play that will add anything new to your life.

With apologies... ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ 

Much Ado About Nothing runs at The Old Vic, London until 30^th November 2013.