‘KING LEAR’: Glenda Jackson. Photo: Brigitte Lacombe

KING LEAR
Written by William Shakespeare
Directed by Sam Gold
Original score by Philip Glass
Cort Theatre
138 West 48th Street
(212-239-6200), www.KingLearonBroadway.com

By David NouNou

Whatever happened to the adage of less is more? In this revival of King Lear, Shakespeare has been bastardized and vandalized by director Sam Gold.

Shakespeare has been presented in many ways: traditional, contemporary, and with dates shifting from Roman times to Fascist times (as was the case of Julius Caesar with Denzel Washington playing Brutus in a 2005 revival that was a mess). Well, nothing will prepare you for this reincarnation of King Lear with Glenda Jackson, a role she performed in 2016 at London’s Old Vic.

Shakespeare is convoluted enough, and listening to the Bard’s dialogue is crucial in order to comprehend the narrative. It is complicated, so attention must be paid. External distractions are unnecessary because there are enough of them here. Clocking in at three hours and 35 minutes, it’s a Herculean sit-through.

Lear (Glenda Jackson) has three daughters: Goneril, the oldest (Elizabeth Marvel), Regan, the middle (Aisling O’Sullivan); and Cordelia (Ruth Wilson), the youngest. Ms. Wilson also portrays The Fool. Lear has two too many daughters. Goneril and Regan, along with their husbands, honor Lear with their false love and devotion, while Cordelia just honors him without any false flourishes. This galls Lear’s vanity. thus banishing Cordelia from the kingdom, only too late discovering the treachery of his other two daughters. Thus, his unraveling and dissent into madness ensues.

What also ensues is the madness that takes place on stage. With no clear focus but pretentiousness by director Sam Gold, throwing everything on stage, including the proverbial kitchen sink, the viewer has to make some sense of the proceedings. Why is there a four-piece chamber orchestra consisting of two violins, a cello and viola and whose members are clad in formal attire, playing chamber music and moving about the stage, courtesy of Philip Glass? If the raison d’etre of the piece is a gender-bending role for Glenda Jackson as Lear, then why diminish and take away from her bravura performance by adding other members of the cast in gender-reversed roles like Jayne Houdyshell as the Earl of Gloucester and Ruth Wilson, doubling up as the Fool? Both diminish the returns from Ms. Jackson.

It is truly important to give everyone a chance to perform on the stage. Mr. Gold uses many African-American actors in important roles, he is giving Sean Carvajal, a Latino actor, the part of Edgar, son of Gloucester, to speak in Spanish phrases to an army for comic relief, which makes absolutely no sense and is offensive to Shakespearean devotees. He also uses Russell Harvard, a hearing-impaired actor, portraying the Duke of Cornwall, Regan’s husband, using a sign-language interpreter, the wonderful Aide to Cornwall, Michael Arden. All of these are admirable choices, but they create so much distraction that there is no cohesive flow. A viewer loses focus and concentration, because one’s attention keeps changing from one thing to another.

In the past Mr. Gold directed A Doll’s House, Part 2 beautifully and concisely but he also directed the abysmal 2017 revival of The Glass Menagerie with Sally Field, where he sucked out all the poetic brilliance of Tennessee Williams. Ann Roth is usually a meticulous costume designer and designed gorgeous costumes for Ms. Jackson in Three Tall Women, but here she is all over the place as well.

Be forewarned that, with all the noise and distractions, this is a three hour and 35-minute hollow production, so bring lots of cushions for your seats. It just might make sitting through this more bearable.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published April 4, 2019

‘KING LEAR’: Jane Houdyshell & Glenda Jackson. Photo: Brigitte
Lacombe

‘KING LEAR’: Glenda Jackson. Photo: Brigitte Lacombe

‘KING LEAR’: Pedro Pascal & Jayne Houdyshell. Photo: Brigitte Lacombe

‘KING LEAR’: Ruth Wilson. Photo: Brigitte Lacombe

The post Pretentious madness of ‘King Lear’ appeared first on StageZine.

‘THREE TALL WOMEN’: (left to right) Glenda Jackson, Alison Pill & Laurie Metcalf. Photo: Brigitte Lacombe

THREE TALL WOMEN
Written by Edward Albee
Directed by Joseph Mantello
Through June 24, 2018
John Golden Theatre
252 West 45th Street
(212-239-6200),www.threetallwomenbroadway.com

By David NouNou

Upon seeing Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women for the second time, having originally seen it in London in 1994 with Maggie Smith, one wonders why this 1991 Pulitzer Prize winning play has never been done on Broadway? The answer is simple it was waiting for Glenda Jackson to retire from British politics and return to the stage, and what a return; she is nothing short of remarkable, giving the performance of the year.

To some degree this is Albee’s most accessible and normalized play. The characters are simply known as A, Glenda Jackson, B, Laurie Metcalf and C, Alison Pill. In the first half of the play, A is a sick, old dying woman who is rich, vain, imperious, bigoted, racist as well as homophobic. She is nursed by a middle-aged savvy B, who knows all her idiosyncrasies and knows when to calm and when to stoke her. C is young and idealistic and has been sent over by A’s attorney to take care of A’s unpaid bills. In the midst of all the idealism and cynicism, A has a stroke and blackout.

Within seconds the second part begins in a mirror image in reverse, with a body facing the back wall and the three tall women emerge in radiant lilac frocks, facing the audience, discussing the deceased.  The three women are the same at different stages of their lives: 26 idealistic, 52 bitter and cynical, and 92 content that it is all behind her now and she doesn’t have to deal with it anymore. Each one theorizes which is the best time in life.

Now back to Ms. Jackson. Leaving the stage for 25 years and being part of the British House of Commons has not dimmed her stage presence one iota. My personal favorite Glenda Jackson film is her 1973 Oscar-winning performance in A Touch Of Class. She was forceful, dominant and a force to be reckoned with; she hasn’t lost her touch and damn she is a classy lady through and through. Even when she is talking about her late husband’s genitalia, she peppers it with such frivolity that she manages to bring the house down. Here is an instance when an actor and role were made for each other, a performance for the ages.

Laurie Metcalf, who last year won a Tony for Best Performance by a Leading Actress for A Doll’s House, Part II supports Ms. Jackson admirably in Part I, then glows as a red-hot ember in the second half. Her depiction of middle-aged bitterness is sublimely real. She is becoming a Broadway staple and a perennial Tony nominee, and for my money, she should return to Broadway annually.

Alison Pill, who is an accomplished actress in her own right, is in the least admirable part. Her part is the least developed and lacks much dimension. She does have a sincere moment in the second half as she retells a moment of her youth.

Broadway audiences are in for a real treat with Three Tall Women, beautifully directed by Joe Mantello. He has imbued it with so much texture and richness that the play seems timeless. Besides seeing one of Albee’s best and least revived plays, you will be experiencing a ferocious force known as Hurricane Glenda, a powerful tour de force in the best of ways.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published April 25, 2018
Reviewed at April 24, 2018 press performance.

‘THREE TALL WOMEN’: Alison Pill, Laurie Metcalf & Glenda Jackson. Photo: Brigitte Lacombe

‘THREE TALL WOMEN’: Glenda Jackson & Laurie Metcalf

‘THREE TALL WOMEN’: Glenda Jackson. Photo: Brigitte Lacombe

‘THREE TALL WOMEN’: Alison Pill, Glenda Jackson & Laurie Metcalf. Photo: Brigitte Lacombe

‘THREE TALL WOMEN’: Alison Pill, Glenda Jackson & Laurie Metcalf. Photo: Brigitte Lacombe

‘THREE TALL WOMEN’: Alison Pill. Photo: Brigitte Lacombe

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