Silence is sexy. Or rather, silence might have made this play sexier. In undoubtedly witty interactions between the raised spirits of King Lear and The Fool, a lot of the story is lost through Lear’s unintelligible manner of speech, presenting madness as mumbling, slurring and turns of the head. Without previous knowledge of Shakespeare’s play, there is not much to gain from this performance as it is wholly based on preceding happenings. What makes it memorable is The Fool’s ability to interact with the audience in mimic and gesture, evoking feelings of lightheartedness, pity and schadenfreude at his command. More clowning and dancing and fewer mumbled words would have done a lot of good.

C, 1-27 Aug (not 14), 5.30pm.
tw rating 3/5 | [Veronika Kallus]