'King Lear' is not for everyone but it is a moving and powerful play to me, and Shakespeare's text is poetic and haunting with many emotions. It is not one of my favourites of Shakespeare's plays and it took a while for me to get behind Lear (which is dependent on how the role is performed), those being introduced to the play may be put off by him in the first act. That still doesn't stop 'King Lear' from being a powerful experience when done right, and likewise with Lear as a character.
On the most part, this 2014 production was a powerful one, one that is very good and nearly great with many fine things. Namely the cast, so good that their performances make up most of the rating. Critically the reception judging from the review round-up was divisive and it is easy to see why, can see why people had issues with Sam Mendes' stage direction as not all of it worked. Will admit too to preferring the previous National Theatre Live 'King Lear' production from 2011 with Derek Jacobi.
Mendes' direction didn't always work. Did not like the rock music video look and feel of the storm scene and staging of the Fool's death was overblown excess.
Didn't care for Adrian Scarborough's performance as the Fool, also felt he wasn't very funny and didn't connect to him emotionally either, he just seemed bland.
Enough of Mendes' stage direction did work though, 'King Lear' is a long play and Mendes directs with enough freshness to not make the experience heavy-going while on the most part keeping things coherent. He is also successful at making the characters interesting and their interactions tense and poignant (especially Lear and Cordelia), and in a way that there is more to them than is on the surface. The effectively stripped-down sets were striking, both dreamlike (like the use of shadow) and nightmarish (the clouds and thunder), perfectly reflecting Lear's state of mind. The use of props was clever.
Simon Russell Beale masters on towering form the mammoth role of Lear (physically, his gestures saying an awful lot, and verbally), clearly understanding the character while poignantly allowing one to understand Lear and why he behaves the way he does, making him easier to get behind. He is matched by the equally poignant Cordelia of Olivia Vinall and the venom practically drips off Kate Fleetwood's Goneril. Anna Maxwell Martin, in a different role for her, doesn't let Regan's manic personality go cartoonish. The Edmund of Sam Troughton is skin crawling and Stephen Boxer gives a deeply felt performance as Gloucester.
In summation, very good. 7.5/10
