Book Review: YEAR OF THE MAD KING: THE LEAR DIARIES, Antony Sher

Antony Sher details his journey as he prepares for the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of King Lear directed by Gregory Doran, his partner and Artistic Director of the company. Year of the Mad King: The Lear Diaries draws a fascinating, detailed picture, taking the reader through the doubts Sher encountered and the fears he faced.

The book, structured much like his previous Year of the Fat Knight and Year of the King, starts on Wednesday 27 May 2015 and follows the actor for about a year and a half, until the end of the run in Stratford-upon-Avon.

The production is far from being the actor's first encounter with the tragedy. He speaks affectionately about King Lear as the first piece he ever saw in Stratford (Trevor Nunn's) while he was auditioning at drama schools in 1968; it was also his first professional job, as he played the Fool at Everyman Theatre in Liverpool in 1972 (directed by Alan Dossor); and it was a precious moment at the start of his career with the RSC in 1982 (directed by Adrian Noble and starring Michael Gambon as the King).

His work begins feverishly while he juggles the end of Miller's Death of a Salesman at Noël Coward Theatre and the impending world tour of the King and Country cycle (where he reprised the role of Falstaff, also directed by Doran). It ends, however, with a sigh of relief: "King Lear did almost overwhelm me. [...] But today it's good to be able to say the word 'almost'," he reflects, looking back at all the obstacles that virtually stopped the show in its tracks.

Sher's life almost mirrors Lear's as he describes it as being permeated by "a smell of mortality". His faltering health and the weight of multiple deaths in his family and circle of friends are treated with gravity and honesty. He doesn't hide how the play prevented him from grieving his sister and then his sister-in-law at the beginning, but ultimately admits how it became a means of channelling both losses.

He speaks about his loved ones (Doran and close relatives back in South Africa) tenderly. A soft prose envelops his day-to-day life, while his writing becomes more matter-of-fact when it comes to his job and process - but he remains clear and engaging throughout the book. The cast of characters in Sher's life come to life also through his paintings, which are reproduced inside.

The autobiographical nature of the journal leaves space for the reader to have a glimpse into the technical side of putting on a show too. He jots down notes about meetings with psychologists and doctors, designers and coaches, steadily placing one brick after another to build the colossus that is King Lear.

It's a very human journey: Sher struggles with the text, doubts his own craft, and figures out why many before him have regarded the part as insurmountable. "It doesn't need an actor, it needs a force of nature," he considers early on in the book as he learns his lines.

One could almost say he has the opposite odyssey. While Shakespeare's tragedy is about a king who thinks he's God and finds out the hard way that he's only a man, Sher's adventure is full of doubt and vulnerability. Quite the mortal experience that ends on a triumphant note as he tames an almost-too-big character.

The stellar success of the production is palpable throughout the retelling and, in a more factual way, it's also evident from the upcoming runs in New York (at Brooklyn Academy Of Music 7-29 April) and Stratford-upon-Avon (23 May-9 June).

Sher doesn't shy away from giving a candid account of the toll the show has taken on his life, showing the price of taking on such an enormous task. Year of the Mad King: The Lear Diaries goes beyond being a daily account of a busy actor's life. It becomes a window into a brilliant mind that managed to handle different projects around the world while conquering a larger-than-life piece of theatre.

As Sher muses: "Maybe every actor who plays Lear experiences this. They should do. The part deserves respect."

Year of the Mad King: The Lear Diaries is published by Nick Hern Books and is out now.

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