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The critic Kenneth Tynan referred to it as a labyrinthian citadel, all but impregnable.
Its a play that drives men to metaphor.
Its also, in a deliberate, slow-burn way, deeply powerful.
This may not be the most explosiveLearyouve ever seen, but it might be the smartest.
If all productions of Shakespeare resonated this clearly, we might not beso preoccupied with translating his plays.
And perhaps, for Doran, seeing clearly is what matters most.
But first he has a question for them: Which of you shall we say doth love us most?
(What could possibly go wrong?)
Indeed, in a corrupt world, the bad guys often see better.
I see the business, Edmund scoffs, sneering at the trust of his unsuspecting family.
Her husband Cornwall has died and she needs an influential male consort to stay in the game.
Her desire for Edmund is an all-consuming hunger, not a power play.
She wants him with her entire body.
At least in the plays first half, Gwynnes Goneril is one of the revelations of Dorans production.
Shedoeslove her father and shes trying to give him what he wants.
Shes alsopissedat him.I mean, what the hell, Dad?!
Never before have I heard the characters ingrained misogyny ring out as sickeningly as in Shers performance.
He rains down hideous, sexualized curses on his daughters when they fail to like him.
When she escapes she clutches her bruised ribs, tears and terror in her eyes.
Sher is a slight actor, but he uses his size to great effect.
Sher makes clear that whatever proud mania has Lear in its grip, its a kind of sickness.
Despite Lears protestations, Sher never plays him as a man more sinned against than sinning.
Can we forgive the monster who discovers his own humanity too late?
Dorans staging, however, continues to aggrandize the character in ways that Shers own canny performance smartly avoids.
Theres cognitive dissonance here between performance and design.
In the end, Shers most devastating moments as King Lear are the small ones.
