Review: Pete Postlethwaite in King Lear at Liverpool Everyman

Nov 23 2008 by Michael Green, Chester Chronicle

KING LEAR/Everyman Theatre, Liverpool, until November 29

REVIEW/by Michael Green

GREATEST play in English literature - Hamlet or Lear?

A tough call most of the time, although audiences witnessing Pete Postlethwaite’s extraordinary return to the venue where his glorious career began may feel he has won the debate for Lear once and for all.

His portrayal of the deeply flawed monarch expertly emphasises the character’s many faults and supreme arrogance to the extent that you almost look forward to seeing his downfall after he stupidly banishes both Cordelia and Kent for not telling him how wonderful he is.

As compelling as these opening scenes may be, you wonder if Postlethwaite may have gone a little too far in stripping Lear of virtually any sympathy - a risky strategy when one’s involvement with later scenes relies so heavily on empathising with his spectacular downfall.

But we are in the hands of a masterly actor here and, almost without realising it, we begin to side with him as his predatory daughters Goneril and Regan plot against their father (and then inevitably against each other).

The suffering they inflict upon him is so devastating that eventually we do end up agreeing with Lear that he is “more sinned against than sinning”.

Lest you think this is a one man show, praise should be heaped on just about everyone else in the cast who more than adequately raise their game to match the star.

Caroline Faber and Charlotte Randle keep Goneril and Regan the right side of pantomime villainy; Jonjo O’Neill brilliantly mines the black humour that is so vital to the success of the diabolical Edmund; Nigel Cooke makes for a versatile and commanding Kent; while TV and stage veteran John Shrapnel is heartbreaking as the brutally tortured Gloucester.

All this and more is marshalled magnificently by director Rupert Gould who ensures this is a Lear for the 21st century with touches of reality TV early on giving way to vivid depictions of modern warfare.

Perhaps, though, his most daring presumption was to take one of the greatest oversights in the Shakespeare Canon - the inexplicable disappearance of the Fool (splendid Forbes Masson) two thirds of the way through - and inventively provide the character with a full story arc.

This is a lusty, bloody and hugely relevant Lear for our times and it deserves to be regarded as both a landmark production of the play and the theatrical highlight of Liverpool’s Capital of Culture year.