LEAR Review: Donald Munro (Fresno Bee)
Posted by: theatreventoux in Lear Reviews, ReviewsIn its short tenure, Theatre Ventoux has elevated the Fresno theater scene by producing challenging fare. From the alluring depravity of “This Flattering Glass” (a heavily reworked adaptation of “Richard II”) to the cerebral antics of “Childe Byron” (told from the point of view of the poet’s daughter), the productions have been insightful, provocative and — most important — distinctively bold examples of storytelling.
The company’s current production, “Lear,” does not reach this level. It struggles not only in terms of voice and vision but also in just the basics of conveying the storyline of Shakespeare’s “King Lear.” The heavily truncated text (the show is over in little more than a brisk two hours, including an intermission) leaves big gaps in the narrative that, frankly, left the remaining plot extremely hard for me to follow.
And while the production tries for a taste of decadence — one of Lear’s daughters, Regan, walks around in leatherlike tights and knee-high black boots in a look that could be described as trollop meets princess — I can’t help but feel that this “Lear” would like to be a great deal bloodier, sexier and stormier than it turns out.Director Gregory Taber envisions the production as a literal storytelling exercise. In a prologue, what appears to be a kindly grandfather figure (Tom Janecek, who will go on to play Lear), prepares to tell a tale to a young boy. Suddenly the entire cast appears, each one pacing about the room in circles and chanting, “Tell us a story.” It is an interesting device, and at least it is strongly theatrical, but the concept in relation to the play is lost on me. Couldn’t any of Shakespeare’s plays start in such a way? Couldn’t any play start in such a way?Janecek is well-cast physically as Lear, and there are times that you can really connect to this old man’s frustrations and mental deterioration. (The moment when he glimpses his beloved daughter Cordelia late in the play and thinks her a ghost has a lot of emotional pull — one of the few times in this production when the words and action on stage really leap to life.) But the character’s descent into madness is never very affecting, and Janecek comes across more as listless than anguished.It’s obvious that Taber likes to mix things up a bit, as evidenced by casting Carolyn Robertson against type and gender as the devious Oswald, a steward that roughs people up. (It didn’t really work for me; Robertson still seems too nice.) Lisa Taber and Michelle Bonanno, as Lear’s two “bad” daughters, have some strong moments, and David P. Otero’s Kent is a solid depiction of loyalty. Curiously, the play’s subplot involving fueding brothers (a vigorous Steve Torres as the good-boy Edgar and a scowling Evan Ericsen as the aggressively nasty Edmund) has a lot more narrative punch in Gregory Taber’s truncated script than the main story of Lear and his three daughters, of whom Cordelia remains very sketchy in this version. (I never figured out where the King of France went: Doesn’t that character play a crucial role in Cordelia’s story?)Visually, the production needs a jolt. On the positive side, Chris Campbell’s lighting design in the Severance space evokes an appropriately stormy feel. But the beige carpet and rudimentary set, combined with the cast’s eclectic modern dress, does little to give us a sense of setting or attitude. This is the story of a community torn apart by war and back stabbing, yet very little in the production design accentuates this theme.Again, Theatre Ventoux is constantly stretching, and that’s a good thing. It gets credit for tackling a tough play head-on, to be sure, and there are some fine individual moments, but this will not go down in my book as one of company’s more successful productions.
