Writer: William Shakespeare
Director: Kayleigh Hawkins
There’s a no-nonsense feel right from the start of Lear. A red curtained room, a war room table, and a determined looking King about to divide up his kingdom. Fierce, but diminutive, for this King Lear is the latest Shakespeare production from HER Productions, and Christine Mackie leads an all women cast. While any theatre-goer will be well used to gender-swapped casting by now, there’s still a tendency for directors to make a big deal out of it, using it to try to add an extra layer of meaning to a text. This only serves to make the casting awkward and sometimes distracting.
Unseemly Women (HER’s Shakespeare series) dispense with all of that, making powerful productions that stay true to the script, offering brilliant opportunities for women to play some of the greatest, more challenging roles in theatre, just as they were written. There’s no doubt that Lear is one of those and Mackie take it on with gusto, surrounded by a strong supporting cast.
Kayleigh Hawkins’s production wrings everything out of this great play, from the dark humour to the painful tragedy. Haylie Jones as Edmund exhorts revenge on everyone while appearing like a panto principal boy, delivering soliloquys and cheeky looks direct to the audience. It’s a delightful and cleverly pitched performance. Gina Fillingham plays Goneril as shouty, spoilt and ruthless, while Teddy Oyediran’s Regan is sly and manipulative. Together they are truly hateful and intimidating. There’s little wonder their father cracks under the pressure.
And crack he does. While Mackie’s Lear doesn’t quite seem to have enough gravitas or anger at the start of the play, once the bullying starts the spiral into depression is captivating. While the ‘madness’ at first emerges as something almost playful, creating some touching scenes with the Fool (Phoebe Farrington), she soon becomes fragile and broken. The moment she re-unites with Cordelia – a sudden recognition that’s like a light switching back on in her brain – is a genuinely touching one.
Zoey Barnes’s costume design is brilliantly eclectic. Nothing matches and yet everything works. It all zings against the simplicity of Sorcha Cocoran’s set. Hope Mill’s intimate space puts the audience in close proximity to the actors so every facial expression matters. Hawkins’s direction really plays to this with some beautifully nuanced performances, while also using the space (and a big central table) to create striking grand visuals.
King Lear is a violent play, and Hawkins’s production doesn’t shy away from it. Fight Director Kaitlin Howard has been busy with some full-on fist fights, stranglings and a particularly gory eye gouging. The cast really go for it, making everything horribly believable.
This is a highly enjoyable production of a great play. It doesn’t matter how many times you’ve seen King Lear, it’s likely you’ll still find something new here.
Runs until 18 June 2023
The Reviews Hub Score
Powerful
