Guest Blog: Opera Star Kim Begley Talks Joining Forces On 'King Lear'

The celebrated tenor Kim Begley made his Royal Opera House debut in 1983 and has since then established himself at the forefront of the repertoire, with credits ranging from Britten to Busoni, Wagner to Brett Dean's opera of Hamlet. In keeping wih Shakespeare, if not this time round with singing, Begley has joined a starry lineup to perform King Lear later this month at the Grange Festival for three performances - and we're talking the play in its full, unadultered majesty and not the opera, with Sirs John Tomlinson and Thomas Allen as Lear and Gloucester, respectively, and Begley as the Fool, alongside many other opera world notables besides. As it happens, Begley cut his teeth as a performer some years back with the Royal Shakespeare Company and explains this return to his classical roots below.

"Give me an egg, Nuncle, and I'll give thee two crowns": so how, you may well ask, did this idea come about? The notion of King Lear performed as the spoken text but entirely by singers was conceived some fifteen years ago as a result of a conversation between the director Keith Warner and the bass John Tomlinson whilst rehearsing his Ring Cycle at Covent Garden. "We must do Lear sometime, John", said Keith. "Aye", replied John. Fast forward some years later to Keith and myself in a taxi on the way to a rehearsal for his production of Britten's The Rape of Lucretia at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna. "Let's do a play together next time, Keith," I ventured.

In fact I had worked years ago with the RSC where I'd had the privilege of appearing alongside Judi Dench, Ian McKellen, Donald Sinden, Mike Pennington, Roger Rees, Patrick Stewart, Richard Griffiths: the list goes on! In my straight theatre days I was fortunate to learn from many great actors, and there's a book in the pipeline when I can get down to it.

As regards Lear, Keith and I had spoken of singers "acting", so to speak, in a play before, given that I had always been convinced that the worlds of opera and theatre were far more entwined than was the popular perception. The days of overweight divas and divos giving stand and deliver performances were long gone, despite the perpetuation of this image by the press and media. Opera sits at in the forefront of innovation and creativity and is more relevant today than it has ever been. Modern day opera singers are required to be good actors and movers and to be tremendously fit. As for the "elitist" label, well, times have changed. Opera is as affordable as a football game or a West End show. All the main companies offer cheap seats to young people and students, with extensive outreach work done in schools and colleges all over the U.K. The ENO is actually giving away free tickets this season: the record therefore needed to be put straight.

It was with all this in mind that we embarked upon a fantastical discussion of suitable plays and dream casts, all involving opera world colleagues and friends. The practicalities of tying down singers and scheduling rehearsals were daunting to say the least, but eventually we got the commitment of the main protagonists required: John Tom as Lear, myself as the Fool, Tom Allen as Gloucester and Susan Bullock as Goneril. Keith asked the veteran American bass Donnie Ray Albert, himself a great Porgy and Wotan, to play Kent in a masterstroke of casting. We needed a producer and Keith asked his friend Michael B. Hunt, a very experienced opera festival director amongst other skills, who very quickly came up with ideas for venues and budgeted the project. Keith, John and I began to explore the text of this epic play with John Lloyd Davies as dramaturg. He and Keith then compiled their own version of Lear, with cuts, which was duly published.

Michael Hunt then approached Michael Chance, Artistic Director of The Grange Festival who came to one of our exploratory workshops at Keith's house, and over lunch a plan was put into place to present Lear at the Grange Festival in summer 2019. Casting of the other roles began, and everyone seemed to want to be involved! We were joined by Emma Bell, Louise Alder, Richard Berkeley-Steele, Johnny Graham Hall, Christopher Gillett and Henry Waddington in quick succession, all great singing actors. We continued to work on the text via Zoom. The design and lighting team came on board and everything looked very achievable for 2019.

Then came the pandemic. The Grange postponed their season to 2021, which of course created huge problems for the availability of all involved. The world of live entertainment closed down and travel restrictions put future planned engagements in jeopardy. Ironically this has worked in our favour as most of the cast sadly had contracts cancelled for this year. Undeterred, we continued to workshop the text online. The composer Nigel Osborne joined us and began to create a soundscape for the play using the wonderful voices of the cast. This has been an exhilarating and fascinating experience.

As I write this, we are well into rehearsals and seem to go from strength to strength. It's hard work! Performing in masks and keeping social distancing continue to be a challenge, not to mention sharing rehearsal studios with Priscilla Queen of the Desert one week and a newly commissioned opera about the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko the next. The whole adventure has been very edifying and exciting. Working alongside some of the most talented young singers from the new generation is a joy as we share our collective experiences and knowledge. 2021 marks my fiftieth year in the theatre, and I am so proud of my colleagues and friends, old and new, who are working so diligently to make this unique, rich and rewarding project come to life. Let's hope this is the first of many such forays into the unknown.

King Lear performs 14, 15, 17 July at The Grange Festival.

Photos of Sir John Tomlinson in rehearsal as Lear and Kim Begley as Parsifal c. Clive Barda

To post a comment, you must register and login.