Silly Little Country

Oooppss - a King Lear with too many Lears!

Today's Star has another one of those nice profiles by Richard Ouzounian, this one of Brian Bedford, as he heads into this year's Stratford festival directing this year's production of King Lear and starring in it. I have generally enjoyed Brian Bedford over the years, but have had no major enthusiasm about him. On the other hand, I was also looking forward to seeing him today in this role as I went with friends to see one of the preview performances.
So imagine our surprise to find when we arrived to pick up our tickets at the Box Office, learning that he would not be performing; instead it would be John Innes, who is booked normally to play The Old Man, a fairly minor role in the play. I was not especially distressed but did wonder how this would go, as I had no idea what work the understudies had had.
Well, let me just say that the near sell-out crowd seemed pretty happy at the end, judging from the applause at the end, the most amazing being the immediate standing ovation for the substitute John Innes when he appeared after the end of the play.
This is of course partly a measure of the team nature of these productions; the show itself was performed with a wonderful rhythm, and a very delicate balance between the grim nature of much of the story and the profound humour and humanity of it as well. Shakespeare loves making one hang on this edge, and I felt we got a full taste of it, laughing sometimes in what seemed the worst places (and I think as intended).
Much of this is certainly Bedford's direction. I enjoyed the production completely. The roles of Edgar and Edmund were played with wonderful physicality by Gareth Potter and Dion Johnstone, and Wenna Shaw and Wendy Robie as the bad daughters were wonderfully bad, while Scott Wentworth broke one's heart as the initially deluded and sadly later comprehending Gloucester.
And I agree in the end with those in the audience who stood in their final ovation that Innes was a wonderful Lear.
Which leaves Brian Bedford and Stratford an interesting problem if word gets out. Does Innes get more shots at it? I am glad I do not have to make that decision. But it is fun to see the play outside the play, where the understudy went on and was a bombshell - now what?

posted by Alan Adamson @ 6:53 PM