King Lear

Today we watched King Lear at the Royal Shakespear theater company, The Other Place. It was an interesting experience that was worth watching. While I didn’t understand much I could follow along with the events of the play because of our class discussions and could even interpret some lines due to the expressions and movements of the actors. The king and jester both were so compelling in their speech, despite not understanding them they commanded my attention with the intensity of their voice and the purposeful movements they made. I found the costume to be minimal but very interesting in their design being the white under garments and burlap covers. The crowns were also very interesting because though they too were simple they allowed the viewers to keep track of the characters through these head dressings and even interpret when a character was trying to steal power or crown themself. The set was also very minimal, being only a few rolling set pieces that they used in different formations to convey a change in setting. The lighting was very good and really it was what I would say was the peak of the show. During the war scene and storm scene both the way they used lighting was very impressive considering how minimal everything else had been. This Ukrainian version was able to capture the essence of the King Lear tragedy through the wonderful acting, expressions and tone used by each character. The effect of seeing a play in an unfamiliar language was interesting as it was both interesting and boring. I say this because though I was paying attention it was hard to know what moments were supposed to be deep and which were supposed to be funny. It did allow me to pay much more attention to the acting detail and talent demonstrated by each actor.