Theater Review by Elise Nussbaum . . . .
Pre-show house music of Guns n’ Roses, the Ramones, and Nirvana promised a “rock and roll” King Lear, but Frog & Peach Theatre Company’s new production of the beloved Shakespearean tragedy (now playing at the Theatre at St. Clement’s through February 18) hews close to a “modern dress + swords” approach.
The requisite dose of rock star sexuality and menace struts onstage as Jonathan Reed Wexler playing the bastard Edmund, who serves up a convincing performance and makes the villainous monologues sound like the naturally occurring thoughts of a sociopath. Villains in general are famously more fun to play, and they are well served here: Camelia Iturregui Fuertes, as Regan, simpers and coos with a deliberate edge of falsity and malevolence. Amy Frances Quint, as Goneril, conveys a brittle self-regard turned murderous, and her unctuous servant Oswald, played by Eric Ryan Swanson, is clearly delighted to serve his lady in whatever capacity she desires. Lear himself has less fun, mostly swallowed up in oversized jackets that emphasize Greg Mullavey’s (ABC TV’s “NYPD Blue”) slight frame and make the folly of his shortsighted retirement planning clear before he even opens his mouth. Mullavey capably conveys the foolish king’s journey from hubris, to petulance, to impotent rage, to brokenhearted madness. Both Mullavey and David Elyha, as the Earl of Gloucester, struggled with the quirky acoustics of the venue, bringing an expressive physicality to compensate for their more impassioned speeches being swallowed by the space. (Paradoxically, the more quietly the performers spoke, the more intelligible they were.) Eric Doss, as the Fool, nimbly treads the line between gravitas and smartassery.
Though director (and Frog & Peach Artistic Director) Lynnea Benson’s production is fairly straightforward, certain choices make the familiar plot a little more difficult to follow. The stage is somewhat overpopulated, with courtiers in slinky gowns, and someone who is later revealed to be a doctor, hanging around the edges of most scenes for reasons that are difficult to discern. With all of these available performers onstage—and in a play where multiple major characters disguise themselves—it is rather confusing to see Calley Luman and Clayton Turner, primarily cast as the sweet Cordelia and her loyal husband, the King of France, also show up as anonymous henchmen.
The minimalist set (Asa Benaly) splays a stylized map of England across the floor, subtly emphasizing the stakes at play here. Not only are these thankless children laying down claim to huge swaths of land, but their squabbles have resonance across an entire (if still nascent) country. (We might even say, to coin a phrase, that the performers bestride their world like a Colossus–spare a thought for the petty men who walk under those huge legs.)
King Lear. Through February 18 at The Theatre at St Clements (423 West 46th Street, between Ninth and Tenth Avenues). Two hours, 15 minutes, with one intermission. www.frogandpeachtheatre.org
Photos: Maria Baranova
