King Lear

[ethandron]

I see a modern version of this is on tv soon, Monday I think, with a terrific cast.
I've never seen or read King Lear and am looking forward to it, I find modern versions of Shakespeare much more understandable and interesting.
Anyone seen and enjoyed this as it was writ??

[Mamyalynne]

This production does look good.

http://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2018-05-24/meet-the-cast-of-bbc2s-king-lear/

[andy-hughes]

I am sure you know this, but only the settings and costumes change, they keep the dialogue the same, unsurprisingly, it has lasted for over four hundred years, you wouldn't want to mess with it now!

[ethandron]

I did know, andy, but find the modern dress and atmosphere (for want of a better word) engages me so I take more notice and concentrate on what's being said.
I once saw a theatre production of Macbeth where there were all dressed in biker leathers and set in modern times, and really enjoyed it.

[kvalidir]

I love Shakespeare however it comes, the edgier and more raw the better ( it was never intended to be high brow) so it plays well like this x

[ethandron]

Have you been in any Shakespeare things Kval?

[ichkeria]

King Lear is my favourite. And the recent Almeida theatre Hamlet set in modern Denmark was great

[jackthehat]

Studying the play for A-level stripped it of a lot of enjoyment for me. I saw some indifferent productions of it, too.
However, I am relishing the prospect of watching this one. :o)

[ethandron]

What do they say...youth is wasted on the young?
I wish I'd been more interested in the things they tried to teach me in school. Such is life.

[Garaman]

One of the joys of getting older is being able to appreciate things you didn't as a youth.

[ichkeria]

Funnily enough jack studying it for A level was what got me into it.
I remember standing out in the school playground one night in thunder and lightning rebuking the storm(!) There was less entertainment in those days :-)
There was a great Stratford production a few years ago where the fool had the audience in stitches. Sadly of course he goes to bed at noon ... (Act 3)

[zebo]

I'm the reverse of one poster, when a play is in modern dress I find it less effective but I'm looking forward to this. We listened to Julius Caesar during the afternoon last week on Radio 4, the lack of visuals concentrated the mind on the language.

[Canary42]

I find it difficult to explain why, but Lear is a long way down my list of favourite Shakespeare Plays - I think it goes back to a production I saw where the Storm scene was ridiculously overacted.

My all-time favourite (to date) is As You Like it with my favourite Shakespeare character Rosalind.

A lot depends on the performance - I saw a production of Merry Wives at Shakespeare's Globe where the two actresses playing (Mistresses) Page and Ford were outstanding which made it a most entertaining comedy.

Like so many, I was put off Shakespeare at school, but came re-acquainted when I took an Open University degree in Eng Lit when in my Fifties - I loved it.

[kvalidir]

I have Ethandron :) I've done Lavinia ( Titus Andronicus- my favourite), Lady Anne (Richard III), Lady McBeth in a youth thing (and a witch) and I was recently cast in something else which appears to have stalled from funding at the moment. I want to Direct Titus on my terms one day with motorcycle gangs, a la Gadi Roll, but it would need to be a massive outdoors affair that you can only get away with somewhere like Israel, so might never happen x

[dance2trance]

King Lear is just garbage as a play. It is as WS said 'a bad entertainment'. It is Hannah Montana level. It is dull. The new TV thing was dreadful. Hannibal slurred his lines and the rest of the cast decided to go for the wardrobe door school of acting apart from Carson. Also they dropped a lot of the plot and fate of characters as the play was too long for scheduling. Watch paint dry you get more out of it.