King Lear
Director: Peter Dunn
Adelaide Centre for the ARTS
Wed 28 June
Season closed


In some post-apocalyptic time, Lear is the aged king of the derelict London tube train system - the concept was perhaps inspired by the Al-Qaeda terrorist bombings in the Old Dart. Designer Hon Wai Li's set is a magnificently successful study of perspective with the audience set straddling the tracks and looking down the length of an underground station from some fantastical driver's box. Overhead electrified cables add to the effect even though the power is derived from the rails, but it doesn't matter - the whole effect is like being on some Batman movie ride at Movie World. The gradational grey colouration blended into a picture of decrepit decay while the characters are clothed in attractive Thunderdome chic to further alienate their habitation from us. Bravo to the Third Year technical production and design students!

Director Peter Dunn chose an edited two hour script that was initially created in collaboration with long-time colleague Warwick Cooper. The text captures all the meaty bits by focusing on the narrative, and the stop-start flow of the action coupled with the futuristic Gothic design made the play seem like reading a Japanese comic book frame by frame.

On opening night, I saw the Third Year Cast 1 go through their paces. Initially simply finding their way, some unhelpful business appeared false during Lear's division of his kingdom. Dunn had his cast err on the side of energy by playing big and clear, and deliberate articulation generally won the day over nuanced text interpretation. Beth Cleary as Cordelia, Lotte Crawford as Gonerill and Martin Hissey as the bastard Edmund are good examples of very watchable actors who underplayed their humanity.

Things naturally settled in, and the plucking of Gloucester's eyes was quite horrible, although perhaps not horrible enough to Regan (Dee Easton). Dunn had many absurdities and oddities for mirth - Andrew Crupi as Lear was overloaded with a hunched back and an oversized staff. There were also some unfortunate over-reaches: Erza Juanta played a terrific Edgar but tragically he looked like a Sumo mud wrestler while Jada Alberts' Fool was a witty and whimsical interpretation.

Dunn directed an inventive rendition of this Shakespeare classic but the actors were challenged to rise to the calibre of the design. By the way, don't bother to bring your legs to the theatre at the Adelaide Centre for the ARTS - there's no room for them.

David Grybowski