Hannah Tomes has narrated this article for you to listen to.

Yaël Farber’s production of King Lear at the Almeida Theatre is imbued with an undercurrent of tension that feels as if it’s constantly on the edge of exploding into violence. It’s not her first crack at Shakespeare – in 2001 she adapted Julius Caesar, and she directed Hamlet at the Gate in Dublin in 2018 and Macbeth at the Almeida in 2021 – but I’d be willing to bet it’s her most virulent.

Danny Sapani’s Lear flies into a terrifying rage, scattering microphones across the stage

The opening scene – a swanky press conference that could have been lifted straight from an episode of Succession – neatly sets the tone of the snippy relationships. Danny Sapani’s Lear is a man who isn’t used to hearing the word ‘No’, flying into a terrifying rage and scattering microphones across the stage with a powerful backhand when Cordelia (Gloria Obianyo) refuses to take part in his circus of public flattery. Regan (Faith Omole) and Goneril (Akiya Henry) are the dutiful daughters, each assuring their ailing father (and the implied audience of the conference) of their devotion to him while at the same time vying with each other for a larger part of his kingdom. Lear’s dislike for them both is clear. As is the filial warmth between Lear and Cordelia, which makes his disowning of her all the more heart-wrenching – and his descent all the more tender.

Sapani flits between wounded father, humiliated ruler and spiky, unpredictable caged lion, hemmed in at every turn. And he’s utterly believable in each iteration. His raging indignation at being stripped of his virility and power; his crushing acceptance of age (‘They told me I was everything; ‘tis a lie, I am not ague-proof’); his return to a child-like state, near-naked on the heath, is devastating.

But if Sapani is a brilliant Lear, Clarke Peters is an even better Fool.

QOSHE - Devastating: Almeida Theatre’s King Lear reviewed - Hannah Tomes
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Devastating: Almeida Theatre’s King Lear reviewed

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07.03.2024

Hannah Tomes has narrated this article for you to listen to.

Yaël Farber’s production of King Lear at the Almeida Theatre is imbued with an undercurrent of tension that feels as if it’s constantly on the edge of exploding into violence. It’s not her first crack at Shakespeare – in 2001 she adapted Julius Caesar, and she directed Hamlet at the Gate in Dublin in 2018 and Macbeth at the Almeida in 2021 – but I’d be willing to bet it’s her most........

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