(seen at the afternoon performance on 9th March 2024)
This is (literally, thanks to Merle Hensel’s design) a very earthy production, probably set in Sheffield given the quantity of high-quality knives being flashed around by the cast.
Yael Farber’s modern-dress concept concentrates on character rather than plot, so that we have far fewer questions of motivation than usual. The families are beautifully clearly delineated, the politics overt between them.
As Lear, Danny Sapani is a strict patrician who never descends into fevered madness, opting instead for skewed rationality, whipping away a boot even as an audience member attempts to comply with a request for its removal. His final cradling of a dead daughter is moving in its control, the wailing internal and painful.
His trio of daughters and their avaricious husbands are introduced in a strange yet efficient microphoned public ceremony. The declarations florid from Goneril (Akiya Henry) and Regan (Faith Omole), truthful from Cordelia (Gloria Obianyo). Three strong performances with Henry and Omole masters of manipulation and Obianyo remaining true to herself and her love for her father.
For the men, Fra Fe’s Edmund is a slow-burning deadly event. His destruction of Edgar (Matthew Tennyson) feels a very real betrayal, both men clearly shocked at the truths laid bare in their relationships, parallelling that of the King’s own family.
Excellent Michael Gould as Gloucester is the firm hand of familial decency, while Clarke Peters brings a Caribbean edge to Fool, entertaining, surprising, and delighting with a new take on ancient verse with added rhythm.
Somewhat indulgent in its length, adding scenes usually cut and taking much time with the theme of music – both harmony and discord – if this is not quite emotionally “up there” with the best Almeida Shakespeare, it is a strong and lucid effort by a notable acting and creative ensemble.
4 stars.
Photo credit: Marc Brenner. Used by kind permission of the Almeida Theatre.