King Lear is one of my two favorite Shakespeare plays, not only for its powerful language and imagery, but for the truths and beauties I find anew each time I return to it.
Despite its length ( four hours if uncut, although this production runs just three ) , King Lear is a model of compressed action and character development that roars out of the starting gate in the opening scene, as Lear divides his kingdom between his daughters. Then, it brilliantly delays its emotional rewards until the final act when Lear is restored to sanity in time for a moving reunion with his loyal follower, Gloucester, and a tender reconciliation with his loving daughter, Cordelia. After the conflict and deep chastenings of the first four acts, tears flow in the final scenes. At least mine always do.
Chicago Shakespeare Theater gets just about everything right in this production, staged by artistic director Barbara Gaines. I could nit pick the cuts, especially the near-elimination of the mock-trail scene during the storm; but overall, I have no complaints. This clearly presented Lear elucidates the themes of truth, deception and self-deception, and resoundingly asks "How can we know the truth?" as children scheme and plot against parents, and pretend to be what they are not. Loyalists also pretend to be what they are not, going undercover to preserve themselves. Like a good Hitchcock movie, the audience always knows more than the characters.
Chicago Shakespeare regular Greg Vinkler is a variegated Lear of commanding authority one moment and coy childishness the next, willfulness and generosity, all broadcast through beaming eyes. Gaines has given him a brilliant and chilling moment when he curses his daughter, Goneril, with barrenness. He throws her to the ground and pins her with his boot planted on her womb, hurling terrible invective at her, as every surrounding face reflects the horror of his words.
The large ensemble of veteran players are masters of their roles. Patrick Clear as Gloucester, Kevin Gudahl as Kent, Lisa Dodson as Goneril, Celeste Williams as Regan, Timothy Kane as Edgar, Scott Parkinson as a punkish, skin-head Fool and Ana Sferuzza as Cordelia are rock-solid and unmannered in support. Understudy Matthew Carter as Edmund, Gloucester's villainous bastard son, didn't miss a beat.
Scott Bradley's semi-abstract scenic design of rock formations and crevassed earth reflects the play's themes but looks like a dangerous acting surface. Lighting designer Donald Holder provides evocative smoke and shadows, and Michael Krass hearty and slightly primitive costumes. The program says "Fifteenth-century England" although there is little about the production designs to support that, nor does it matter.