Shakespeare never lacks for juicy insults, and King Lear is especially thick with verbal abuse. The unhinged title monarch viciously curses his daughter Goneril with rot in her ovaries and there’s a comically long string of invective the disguised Kent heaps upon villainous servant Oswald in front of Gloucester’s castle. In the trimmed version now running at The Shed I particularly miss one put-down—again, between Kent and Oswald. “Thou whoreson zed!” Kent sneers. “Thou unnecessary letter!” Gone from this sped-through, two-hour cut. But what would you expect? This is an unnecessary Lear.

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The great Kenneth Branagh leads and co-directs a decidedly not-great production which often feels like a college effort—if the head of your drama department had made Shakespeare films 30-odd years ago. The school vibe (middling actors, muddled concept) is inevitable: the cast are all recent graduates from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, Branagh........

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