From page 10 of the Friday, March 20, 1987 issue of the Rice Thresher:
King Lear
Baker Shakespeare
March 16
Shakespeare's King Lear is a play often read but rarely performed; it is long, intricately plotted, and contains some of Shakespeare's most complicated verse. Yet Baker Shakespeare, under the direction of Jonathan Chadwick, bravely chose this tragedy for their production this year. The result is an excellent evening of drama.
Lear is a play about madness and sanity, deceit and righteousness, and betrayal and honesty. Lear (Lee Chilton) begins the play as absolute ruler of Britain, but as the unsettling and swirling colors of Devin Meadows' thoughtfully designed set suggest, chaos soon follows. Shortly into the play, Lear banishes his favorite daughter Cordelia (Leigh Ann Duck) because she will not exaggerate her love for her father to gain a dowry as her sisters Regan (Ann Marley) and Goneril (Laura Dresser) have done. Soon Lear discovers the evil nature of his two remaining offspring and begins to go mad, realizing that without the power he has given Goneril and Regan, he is nothing.
In the subplot that intertwines with the tragedy of Lear and his daughters, Lear's aide the Earl of Gloucester (Paul Wadehra) is tricked by his bastard son Edmund (James Daruwala) to deny his legitimate son Edgar (Tom Senning). Edgar must then feign insanity as "Poor Tom" the madman to stay alive. Edmund eventually betrays Gloucester to Regan's husband the Duke of Cornwall (John Thomas), who gouges Gloucester's eyes ou; As is true of all tragedy, as the king falls, so falls his country.
The strength of this production lies in its cast; director Jonathan Chadwick has extracted a sinister and powerful performance from almost every player. The weight of the play rests squarely on the character of Lear, and Lee Chilton more than rises to the challenge. His transition from powerful king to pathetic madman is a brilliant portrayal of a man stripped of his dignity and sanity due to his own foolishness.
Tom Senning as Edgar is an undeniable force whenever he is onstage, whether as Gloucester's ignoble son or the writhing and insane Poor Tom. His amazing transfiguration from sane to mad and back again evokes not only the audience's sympathy but its wonderment as well. And both Doug Plummer and Paul Wadehra give superbly understated performances in their respective roles, Plummer as the Duke of Albany, Goneril's long-suffering husband, and Wadehra as the well-intentioned but easily deceived Gloucester.
As Goneril and Regan, Laura Dresser and Ann Marley, respectively, seethe evil from the moment they walk onstage. Both nicely capture the complete wickedness of the two sisters. Marley is marvelously murderous and sensual in the extremely convincing scene where Gloucester's eyes are put ou;t; Dresser is incredibly contemptible in her own right, and Goneril's scenes with the good-natured Albany crackle with intensity as a result. Jamie Daruwala's Edmund makes a lusty and conniving object of their affections and Mark Anderson's Oswald is another satisfying performance.
Yet the production did have some faults. Sarah Keller's Fool captures the wisdom of the character but not the bravura that makes the Fool such a unique entity in Shakespeare's plays. Chris Check possesses the intensity necessary to portray Lear's banished aide the Duke of Kent, but at times lacks the subtlety. Also, some other cast members were overwhelmed by their fellow performers at times.
Nevertheless, the entire cast and crew, with the help of Don Russell's effective lighting and Gabriel Dionne's evocative music, all have achieved a rare accomplishment: a riveting and moving production on one of Shakespeare's most difficult plays. In a year that has been a desert of serious drama at Rice, Baker Shakespeare's King Lear is an exceptional oasis.
-- Frances Engler
From the 1987 Sammy Awards:
Last modified March 25, 1997 by Proteus Internet Information. Send corrections or comments. And if you don't like it, well you can just go get yourself a Shakespearean insult.