BWW Reviews: LEAR, Union Theatre, June 7 2014

We're on the move most of the time as the anger, the action and the amnesia swirls around us, for this is a promenade Lear, where our wandering and our sightlines echo the problems of the characters. More than the eye-catching casting of Lear as a woman, this need to move in order to see better characterises this pacy, occasionally distressing, always compelling production.

Ursula Mohan's Lear is a small and often funny presence, whose storms of anger feel less like the bullying one imputes to a big man used to getting his own way and more to her ageing. Her motherliness is still there though, coming through most strongly in her dealings with her Fool (Joseph Taylor), who dresses in hospital scrubs and is treated like something between a much loved carer and a favourite son, especially out in the storm. Lear's daughters are, of course, prey to the mood swings that visit Lear, her vicious attack on Goneril (Claire Jeater), wishing infertility upon her, all the more powerful when spat out by a mother. Though some may rail against the casting of Lear placing it within some supposed political correctness context, the fact is that it detracts nothing from the power of the tragedy and adds new perspective to the play's themes.

Richard Derrington's Gloucester retains his dignity throughout, if not his sight, his eyes gouged so that he may better see his folly in being seduced by his illegitimate son Edmund (Rikki Lawton) to turn against his legitimate son Edgar (Tom McCarron). Edmund is a swaggering, coarse bully - a trash-talking, grinning boxer keen for the money, the women and the accolades, but whose hubris overpowers him. Lawton is very good at being very bad. Perhaps the absence of a male Lear to offset the testosterone-fueled Edmund builds the part - whatever dynamics may be in play, and despite the good man lurking behind the ego we glimpse from time to time, it's a relief when he meets his end at the hands of his half-brother, McCarron's raging philosoper-poet.

As Lear's mind slips and then clicks back, anger overflowing, there lies a lesson for the state, but also for the family. Modern medicine can keep body together, but can it do anything for the soul? Whether religious or not, the soul of a man or woman rests in their morals, their judgement, their empathy and, in minds damaged by the brain's decreptitude, who will see the way forward? "Old fools are babes again and must be used / With checks as flatteries, when they are seen abused" is Goneril's typically cruel formulation, but she may be right. The children of the 60s, ageing today, must properly prepare to give away everything to the generation that came after them - but there's little sign of that with today's politics protcting their pensions, property prices and healthcare entitlements. As in Lear, if my generation cannot see what that state of affairs will lead to, I fear a similar denouement, at the ballot box or on the streets.

Lear continues at the Union Theatre until 28 June.

Photo Scott Rylander

To post a comment, you must register and login.