THIS IS ME QUOTING MYSELF ON KING LEAR AT BONDI FROM ANOTHER THREAD
i loved the bondi production i thought it was really good -- prolly cause we were the only people in the audience and i had a great nite out wit friends and it was just a really good nite! we got to talk to the actors afterwards and they gave us some tips in interpreting the production ..
I wrote a review on this production last week of term and so i mentioned some of the negatives i thought about the production
- firstly characterisation .. none of the characters were developed as i wouldve liked, as i thought was necessary now i dont know whether this was intentional or not. i mean perhaps the director wanted to convey that none of the characters were purely evil or simply good that they all had different shades -that nothing is as simple and perhaps she was trying for a more realistic production ... at the start i had sympathy for goneril and regan but by the end i wanted to kill them ... lol i loved them being dragged onto the stage that was funny
. if she wasnt trying to imply this then i can only explain it on bad acting
- also another thing that i didnt think was developed well enough was the issue/theme of alcoholism! i was so excited when this was introduced i thought it was such a clever and interesting concept but they didnt develop it enough and i became confused whether the characters were descending into madness or whether they were ranting like a drunk.
- Also particular scenes were not as strong as they shouldve been .. the storm scene was pitiful! such a bathos climax!! it is suppose to be one of the stronegst scenes of the play yet i felt this scene was not emphasised to the extent it deserved and also i was genuinely convinced that king lear was drunk in this scene.
contrasting this though i thought the opening scene was dealt with brillantly.. i thought having the division of the kingdom so public emphasised lears pride. also i commend the relationship established between audience and actors .. it was a very personal production and i loved king lear when he went all crazy with the hesain bag and the flowers .. he gave one to my friend aww i just wanted to hug him!!! i thought this closeness was great and i much preferred this to queen leres production where we were segregated from the action.
at the end of king lear the audience is suppose to feel a sense that the kingdom is redeemed that the characters left are noble and sensible, and that they have witnessed such times that they will ensure nothing like this could ever repeat. at the conclusion of this production we were left wit a suicidal kent, a drunkard in edgar (the introduction of edgar was with an empty alcohol bottle.. this immediately questioned his ability to run a kingdom in the end) and albany --- the worst actor in the world.. it was a pitiful conclusion and i truly believe that not one of these characters, in this production had the nobility to rule a kingdom and i dont think they deserved to!
after saying all that i did honestly enjoy the production though and there are many good points i think:
i thought the chemistry between goneril/regan and edmund was established early and i think this is important.. in other productions it seems like this random occurence but in here it was developed from the start. also it seemed that there was no tension between this family - everyone seemed pretty close .. there did not seem to be any noticeable favourtism to cordelia, i think lear treated all the daughters the same. i think that there was no tension until there was a need for tension and this was introduced with the desire for edmund which may of been just another chance of competition between the sisters and also the desire for power! all the characters were meglomaniacs and i thought this was brillant.. wat power can do to a person and i think power was a subtle but important theme especially in this production. gloucesters journey was really well conveyed, more so than lears which is disappointing because lear is suppose to be the focus. .. there were heaps of other things i loved about this production but i think they will fall wasted on ears.. because i dont think anyone else enjoyed this production. Anyway i did like it and i thought it was, to an extent, effectively performed.
Queen lere i also enjoyed and i cant compare the productions themselves, they were completely different and individual but i didnt see queen lere on the best day so i really couldnt wait to get out of the cut theatre.. it was boiling hot and it was sooo crammed and humid that really i couldnt wait till it was over! otherwise the production was good!
THIS IS ME QUOTING MYSELF FROM ANOTHER THREAD WITH MY OPINION ON QUEEN LERE
queen lere was interesting although i dont think it successfully identified what it intended to - it was suppose to be a feminist production but all they did was switch the gender roles the interesting thing about this is that the characters were more or less the same as in any other king lear production - they experienced the same things and responded the same ways. so the only difference in this production was how u interpreted it and i think it was interesting because lere played as a woman gained a lot more sympathy i think because women are suppose to be nuturing characters! but she was played as a greedy ignorant woman but still because of her gender i gave her sympathy. gloucester was an old woman and i felt sooo sorry for her .. she was so gulliable and on the clifftop scene i thought she wasgonna fall and im like "NOOOO NOT THE OLD LADY" she was soo adorable and i truly felt sorry for her, prolyl just because of her age and gender. the men in the production -- the "sons" of lere were shown as submissive -- overall i think the production was great.. nothing more was needed, i think the gender swapping was enough. except yeah it wasnt seen to me as a feminist production more as it relied on the audience for individual interpretation based on their own opinions and stereotypes on gender and the like. the production set up was brillant! there was a back projection which was extremely effective and which showed the context of each scene and also the storm scene and the descent of queen lere into insanity! the storm scene was fabulous!!!! a net was lowered from above and lere was trapped inside and yeah it was one of the most effective storm scenes ive viewed! also a mention must go to edmund -- she was actually a woman and her name was different but she was soo convincing and having a woman play this part you can really see the conniving side of women .. she was sooo good!!
overall it was a great play.. if its still running and u get time go and see it!!! i really recommend it!
