Author: David Burton

As I walk into the Playhouse Theatre for King Lear’s Brisbane opening night, I must admit I’m a little cautious.  A successful play that runs over three hours is an enigma.  If any play can do it, however, it’s King Lear, one of my favourite Shakespeare plays.  Perhaps I still had Queensland Theatre Company’s other recent production of Waiting for Godot in my mind, but I’m reminded that King Lear is the closest to existentialism that Shakespeare gets.  It’s a play where ‘nothing’ is a central theme, and where the protagonist deals with his own mortality with a tragic descent into madness.  The play is violent, heart-wrenching and devastating.  At least it’s supposed to be.  I’m afraid to say this latest production with John Bell in the lead doesn’t quite hit the mark. Continue reading “Review: King Lear – Bell Shakespeare, Queensland Theatre Company & QPAC at QPAC”