King Lear

Stuart Graham and Conleth Hill in King Lear. Image. Ros Kavanagh

***

For generations, learning Shakespeare in school, like learning Irish, was tantamount to educational trauma. Something you endured rather than enjoyed. If you drew the long straw you gleaned a modicum of excitement from Hal, Hotspur and Falstaff. Or the nubile, star crossed Romeo and Juliet. Or the bloodthirsty couple whose name we dare not speak. If you drew the short straw, like the current Leaving Certificate cohort, you studied King Lear. A bitter, old madman screaming at a storm out on a moor. Leaving you wanting to pluck your own eyes out rather than read another old man soliloquy. If ever a Shakespeare play was out of sync with a teenage audience, King Lear is it. Alas, The Gate’s current production does little to change that, or to offer an older audience much to get excited about. Aside, that is, from an invested cast.

King Lear. Image. Ros Kavanagh

Ageing and dementia, inheritance and power grabs, abandonment of the elderly once they’ve served their use; King Lear is replete with grown up, later in life themes. Lear dividing his kingdom between the fawning Regan and Goneril, and dismissing the faithful Cordelia, might well speak to the current face of US politics, but it's never developed. The emphasis here placed on greed within families, mirrored in the tale of Gloucester, Edgar and Edmund. As their worlds fall apart by way of contrived, convenient and inconvenient letters, the old King loses his mind in order to find it, just as Gloucester loses his sight so he can see. Not that it does either of them, or anyone around them, much good.

Michael Glenn Murphy and Fiona Bell in King Lear. Image. Ros Kavanagh

As productions of King Lear go, The Gate’s current offering is fraught with problems, the buck stopping squarely with director Roxana Dilbert. A former associate director of The Royal Shakespeare Company, Dilbert serves up a shapeless and somewhat shambolic three hours, busy yet lacking in real energy. Dilbert’s King Lear very much a museum piece. The museum in question being Madam Tussaud's. Staging, like Night at the Museum, frequently suggesting wax figurines coming momentarily to life whilst the rest of the cast stand like lifeless waxworks waiting to deliver their lines. Ti Green’s disjointed set and bland costumes bewilderingly dull and unforgivably distracting. Benji Bower’s intrusive score also falling short, even if the thunderstorm is moderately engaging. Throw in Ciaran O’Grady’s weakly crafted fight scenes, Northern accents slipping in and out of use, and it makes for a mediocre experience. Only Paul Keogan’s endlessly engaging lights remind you of what should have been.

Stuart Graham and Eavan Gaffney in King Lear. Image. Ros Kavanagh

Throughout, performances range from regrettable to memorable; running the gamut from underwhelming and over the top to moments that capture the sublime. Cast frequently looking adrift, as if lacking a cohesive central vision and working with weak compositional choices. Delivery suggesting soliloquies recorded for an audiobook. Even shared scenes frequently sound like competing soliloquies recited at an advanced, read through stage. Dilbert never achieving cohesion, or locating the meat beneath the text, or sounding the profounder notes. The whole looking confused rather than complex.

Conleth Hill and Aidan Moriarty in King Lear. Image. Ros Kavanagh

To be clear, this is a hard working cast. But they’re poorly served and appear left to their own devices. Some manage to shine. Stuart Graham’s Gloucester proves terrific, especially in later scenes, as does Michael Glenn Murphy as the energetic Fool. Eavan Gaffney’s Regan proves strongest of Lear’s three daughters; Gaffney’s steely expression and tensed fists pushing against imposed restraints. Aidan Moriarty’s Edgar, especially during his mad phase, frequently brings the thunder, along with an invested Conleth Hill as Lear. Hill scintillating during key scenes (most notably his reunion with Cordelia) suggesting greater possibilities had a stronger hand guided the helm rather than presenting Lear like an angry Moses cameoing in an episode of Star Trek. Just one of many difficulties Hill navigates which, if they never diminish his performance, never allow it to truly find its feet. Rounding out an uneven patchwork, a vibrant Fiona Bell as Kent, and an unmissable Ryan Hunter as comic villain Edmund turn in crowning performances, each worth the price of admission. But, performances aside, there’s little enough to admire here. Still, it’s on the Leaving Cert for 2025 so it’s a safe bet it'll attract a captive audience. Even if Shakespeare's unlikely to win too many new converts.

King Lear by William Shakespeare, presented by The Gate Theatre, runs at The Gate Theatre until April 27.

For more information visit The Gate Theatre