King Lear at the Shakespeare Globe Theatre

Written by William Shakespeare. 
Director: Barry Kyle 
Producer: Globe
Starring: Julian Glover as 'King Lear', John McEnery, Bruce Alexander , Paul Brennen, Tonia Chauvet , Felicity Dean, Peter Hamilton Dyer, Michael Fenner, Michael Gould, Harry Gostelow, Simon Hyde, Patricia Kerrigan, Geoffrey Whitehead, Andrew Whipp, Roger McKern, David Caron. 

A round up of the press notices......

This production has received mixed reviews from the popular press...... JONATHAN GIBBS for TIME OUT says,"On his own, John McEnery's fool is amusingly caustic, and Bruce Alexander's Kent loyal and heartfelt, but Glover's performance is not big enough to give the play any moral power." CHARLES SPENCER for THE DAILY TELEGRAPH says, "Terrific, overwhelmingly moving staging of King Lear." He goes on to say, "Julian Glover is not the loudest, the maddest or the most terrifying Lear I have ever seen, but his performance cannot be faulted for its sheer, unshowy humanity." MADDY COSTA for THE GUARDIAN says, "Julian Glover's humdrum Lear isn't an authoritative king nor a particularly piteous fool, Michael Gould's Edmund lacks real menace and Tonia Chauvet's Cordelia is simply wooden." PAUL TAYLOR for THE INDEPENDENT says, "The cast has patches of weakness. There's a compelling, morally impassioned Edgar from Paul Brennen, but Geoffrey Whitehead's Gloucester is disappointingly bland. If Glover could reach further into Lear's volcanic rage and madness, his is a performance of rugged stature and it's graced with some fine detail. " BENEDICT NIGHTINGALE for THE TIMES says, "There's plenty of justifiable laughter in Barry Kyle's revival, but also a troubling lack of intensity....Maybe such informal contact between actor and audience is less friendly to tragedy than comedy." PETE HEPPLE for THE STAGE says, "Julian Glover as Lear does not overpower the play. He is neither as ancient in appearance, nor as obviously off his head, as many actors let loose on this terrifying role display." NICHOLAS DE JONGH for THE EVENING STANDARD says, "Glover remains a lucid, always engrossing Lear. Even though missing the role's Everest peaks of emotion, he charts all Lear's transformations."

Originally published on

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