Ann Curtis

Desmond Heeley

Cordelia and Lear*

*Click on image
 to enlarge

To some this may seem an unusual casting for we know Bedford mostly for his roles in Molière's plays. We think we know him more as a character in restoration comedies, and forget that he even has a touring record for his one-man Shakespeare show, The Lunatic, The Lover, and the Poet. Bedford knows his Shakespeare, and in his interpretation of King Lear—even with some cuts—we are assured of a truthful interpretation. By truthful I mean that Bedford has stuck to the meaning of the play rather than giving it a modern patina or worse, used it to promote a personal political agenda.

Shakespeare had set King Lear into a kind of never-never-land of 800 BC, prior to the Roman conquest of Britain; he then contradicted himself by using titles and names that most certainly did not exist in this pre-Roman period. This concoction ensured that his play did not run afoul of the Royal Court of his own time. As for the 2007 production at Stratford, Bedford chose to set the play into the Jacobean period in Britain, i.e. during the reign of James II, a period that ended in 1688 with the Glorious Revolution. The exquisite costumes by Ann Curtis reflect this period well. The minimal set by Desmond Heeley complements the idea, leaving enough room for us to fill in the visual gaps as it should be with a good Shakespearean production.

Shakespeare reveals in this play, more than in any of his others, that kings and other noblemen—even the most experienced—can lack good judgment, that they can be prone to flattery. He recreated two concurrent stories in which Lear, the king, and Gloucester, an earl, are easily deceived by their greedy offspring, who want power at any cost, even at the cost of their fathers' lives, and certainly at the cost of that of their siblings'.

Bedford throws himself into the role of Lear, a man so sure of his own power, he cannot recognize the consequences that will result from dividing his kingdom among his daughters. As his two eldest daughters, Regan (Wendy Robie) and Goneril (Wenna Shaw) strip him of everything he owns, Lear sinks into madness, which Bedford renders with heartbreaking realism. The haughtiness and heartlessness of these sisters is well portrayed by Robie, who brings out Regan's enjoyment of inflicting pain, and Shaw is strident with an unlimited need for power. Although one knows the play well, it is to the actresses' credit that they still manage to send chills into the audience as they not only plot their father's downfall, but also hatch plans to dispense of each other. Cordelia (Sara Topham) is the third daughter. Lear disinherited her because she failed to flatter him. Topham, for the most part, gives an excellent performance. Unfortunately, one cannot always hear her, a fault that has to be laid at the feet of the director.

Regan, Earl of Gloucester & Duke of Cornwall

Scott Wentworth as the Earl of Gloucester is well cast, revealing yet another side of how easy it is to be waylaid by flattery. The consequences are drastic. Here one has to insert a warning that there is visible violence in this play, something Shakespeare never shied away from in his tragedies. And, certainly Bedford, the director, makes no attempt to shield us from it. Gloucester is the father of two sons, Edgar (Gareth Potter), and Edmund (Dion Johnstone), who was born out of wedlock. Potter gives an excellent performance as the shunned son, who is the rightful heir. Johnstone tries too hard to convince us of his lust for power, even resorting to shouting where a quiet menacing tone would have been enough. However, when he plays opposite Wentworth, he captures well the manipulative side of the envious bastard. Again, Johnstone's excesses may be a directorial fault because a few subtle hints of toning him down would have made for a better performance.

Peter Donaldson in the role of the Earl of Kent, Lear's faithful servant to the end, shows the experienced actor at his best. We have yet to see him in a play at Stratford where he did not succeed in capturing the character assigned to him. Wayne Best as the sadistic Duke of Cornwall, Regan's husband, also gives a credible performance.