King Lear – The Public Theater
http://www.publictheater.org/component/option,com_shows/task,view/Itemid,141/id,1038
425 Lafayette Street – East Village/Astor Place
by William Shakespeare
directed by James Macdonald
Starring Sam Waterston
Our friend was going out of town and is a member of The Public Theater. She passed us a pair of tickets to see King Lear. I am most certainly not a critic of Shakespearean acting or of the theater in general, however, I did take three consecutive Advanced Writing courses in college in which I read most of Shakespeare’s works. I will say that if you are so inclined to see King Lear or want to experience Shakespeare, this would be the performance to attend. Sam Waterston has performed in 12 Shakespeare plays for Public Theater to include Shakespeare in the Park. His most famous performance was Hamlet in the Park which was later performed at Lincoln Center.
Thirty years after playing the famous prince, Waterston is back as Shakespeare’s famous king. The balance of the cast is also well known in theater and TV circles. Many have made appearances during the Waterston’s 16 seasons of Law and Order. Michael McKean, also known as Lenny of Laverne & Shirley fame plays the Earl of Gloucester.
Duration: 3 hours, 15 minutes + 15 Minute Intermission
Price: $75-$85
To Make a Long Story Short:
Lear challenges his 3 daughters to profess their love for him. Their reward, a piece of the kingdom. Two daughters wax poetic, while the third and favorite refuses to put her love into words. He divides the land between the first two and disowns/marries off his favored daughter. Betrayal and death ensue, after all, it is Shakespeare. Alas, the disowned daughter comes to Lear’s rescue. And of course all 3 daughters die. A tragedy.
I sooo disagree…in fact I left after the first act, and would have gone sooner if I could have. The last Lear I saw was with Derick Jacoby at BAM….and in comparison, this looked like a high school play. Everyone was screaming…Waterson (whom I generally like) appeared to have no soul…the staging was static…too much lined up in a row…pitiful!
I don’t really disagree. The tickets were a gift from a friend and I was being polite. Although as I mentioned I am not a critic of the stage, so I really cannot offer an educated opinion on the subject. I enjoyed it. You should have heard the screaming in the second act if you thought the first was rough!