I only caught some of the Ian McKellen/Romola Garai King Lear last night. I saw the scenes where Regan and Goneril blind poor Gloucester and the ensuing scenes up until Cordelia reunites with Lear, and then I tuned back in for the end. I thought it was excellently acted if a bit draining (shocking, fellowette! emotionaly drained by KING LEAR? It's such a happy play ;)
McKellen was wonderful. I couldn't hear some of his lines, but he really delivered a tour de force performance and the scene at the end where he carries his daughter out in a reverse Pieta never loses its shock value.
So what did you think if you caught more of it than I?
Admg.. adkl;...erewiojf...FDK:EE!!!
ReplyDeleteIt was on TELEVISION?
This may be the only time I've ever wanted to own one.
I wanted to see him in Lear perhaps more than anything else I've wanted to travel to see in my life. The minute I heard it was touring, I started looking into scraping together money to fly back to New York and go. I then contacted his webmaster to see if there was any way I could find out whether there would be a Midwest date before I spent hundreds of dollars to fly to New York. I was in luck! He let me know that they would be announcing a Minneapolis date shortly. I made plans to drive up with a friend, was all ready to go, and then I dialed the theatre the *moment* tickets went on sale... sold out. All dates, all seats. People bought SEASON TICKETS just so that they could see this one performance. There were no other tickets available. Sorry, suckers who don't have $500 to spend on season tickets in a city you don't even live in. I'm not a crier, but man, I bawled for about an hour. That's probably the only chance I'll have to see him on the stage and I blew it.
Makes me frown just thinking about it :-(
I had a friend who saw Lear with McKellen and Garai at the Guthrie in the Twin Cities. This made me froth at the mouth. !!!
ReplyDeleteAnd then it was on tv as you just said. Which I missed. .... Needless to say I growled for a bit. And then pbs heard my growling and it's going to be on here (chicagoland) AGAIN. maybe there is a god...and maybe it'll be on AGAIN everywhere.