REVIEW: LEAR (Raw Material)
LEAR – ★★★★★ – Blistering
Raw Material: 5 – 7 June
Review by Rebecca Mahar
External and internal storms rage in this raw, dauntless production, bringing its classical inspiration into a brutal, truthful present. From Raw Material in association with the National Theatre of Scotland, LEAR commands its stage without words for a blistering hour of physical storytelling.
If you’re familiar with Shakespeare’s King Lear, this LEAR is instantly recognisable. But while enriching to the experience of watching this production, familiarity with the former is not required: writer Ramesh Meyyappan, while deriving the essence of his story from Shakespeare, has transformed it into something entirely new.
Review by Rebecca Mahar
External and internal storms rage in this raw, dauntless production, bringing its classical inspiration into a brutal, truthful present. From Raw Material in association with the National Theatre of Scotland, LEAR commands its stage without words for a blistering hour of physical storytelling.
If you’re familiar with Shakespeare’s King Lear, this LEAR is instantly recognisable. But while enriching to the experience of watching this production, familiarity with the former is not required: writer Ramesh Meyyappan, while deriving the essence of his story from Shakespeare, has transformed it into something entirely new.
The company of LEAR. Pic: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan.
Under the fearless direction of Orla O’Loughlin, Meyyappan also appears in title role, alongside Nicole Cooper as Goneril, Amy Kennedy as Regan, and Draya Maria as Cordelia.
As the house lights go down at the top of the show, the darkness comes with a burst of thunder and fog; in the midst of the storm, Lear appears as if from nowhere. He prepares to shave, the image of his brush circling on the soap made audible by a singing bowl in the soundscape of composer David Paul Jones as Lear’s daughters linger in the edges of the light. In a rush they join him: Goneril, the eldest, at his shoulder; Regan, the second child, in service; Cordelia, the youngest, in his embrace. There is love and familiarity and playful banter, as Lear playacts at fighting with his straight razor— until with a flashing of lights that could be lightning, or a bomb, or both, the stage explodes, and Lear is left alone.
This extended opening sequence sets the tone for the piece: it will take its time, emphasise every detail, and communicate with sensorial language. Even with the story cut down to focus only on Lear and his daughters, there’s a lot to fit into an hour. In a traditional Shakespeare adaptation it would be nearly impossible, but Meyyappan’s version, in collaboration with an innovating creative team, pulls it off.
Ramesh Meyyappan as Lear. Pic: Moonrise Studio.
The show is based around a circle, a simple and effective choice by designer Anna Orton. Inside the circle is Lear’s home; outside is conflict, first the battle he survives, and then his inner turmoil. While this division seems solid at first, its boundaries break down as the show progresses, and Lear’s mental state alters, sinking into fear, paranoia, and the vulnerability that comes with a loss of control.
All seems happy at first when Lear crosses back into the circle to reunite with his daughters, but things quickly begin to break down. Static fills Lear’s mind; Goneril finds in his jacket a bottle of pills; Cordelia holds her father close and long as he stares into the distance and her sisters murmur and watch. The house becomes a battleground as Lear struggles to maintain his identity and control over his life, while his daughters struggle to adapt to their changed father, how to support him, and who should control the house.
Where Shakespeare’s play has elder daughters who are scheming, Cooper and Kennedy are a Goneril and Regan trying their best; conferring not to steal from their father, but to try and help him, even if he cannot see it, and their methods may not work. Meanwhile Maria’s Cordelia simply loves, seeking to meet and embrace her father for who he is now, whatever the cost.
The company of LEAR. Pic: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan.
The trio are outstanding, each clearly embodying the different personality and approach of each daughter and their places in the hierarchy of the family; demonstrating with aching poignancy their different forms of love for Lear, and how it can’t always be enough. As distinct as each daughter’s character is, they also work seamlessly as a trio, moving and reacting together with an unconsciousness that can only be the product of specific and tireless rehearsal.
Meyyappan’s Lear is a tour-de-force. Condensing all of Lear’s convulsions —mental, physical, emotional— into a single hour creates a monumental challenge, but not a single moment is glossed over. Meyyappan gives us loving Lear, angry Lear, Lear lost and confused; Lear the fool, seemingly at peace within Shakespeare’s seventh age of man in his second childishness, where superb clown work contrasts with the heightened violence and frenzied confusion of earlier scenes.
The versatility and commitment with which Meyyappan embodies the role of Lear is a testament to his desire as a teahtremaker and Deaf artist to “find a more shared visual language…to make the narrative as exciting and accessible to mainstream audiences as possible, using universal thought-provoking themes that apply to both deaf and hearing audiences.” No verbal or manual language with complex prosody is required to communicate this story, or for us to understand what Lear is going through.
The company of LEAR. Pic: Moonrise Studio.
The visual storytelling of the performers is synergistically augmented by light and sound. Jones’s score, continuous throughout the production, rises and falls with the emotions on stage, and works in excellent collaboration with lighting from Derek Anderson. Anderson makes extensive use of movement in in his lighting, as well as shifts in colour to emphasise both location and mood, isolating and expanding with Lear’s psyche.
Sensitive and atmospheric, the lighting design uplifts without overwhelming. It is, however, somewhat too literally atmospheric: when the audience can taste the fog and feel it in their sinuses the entire show, it’s a bit much, the challenges of touring to venues of different sizes notwithstanding.
Relentless, raw, touching, and heartbreaking, LEAR is a tragedy that demands attention, a story based in legend made all too real and current. It is an embodiment of the universality often attributed to Shakespeare: that there are themes, experiences, and emotions captured in these plays that thread throughout humanity. Meyyappan has seized these threads and woven them into a new tapestry of contemporary human experience— haunting, visceral, and necessary.
Ramesh Meyyappan as Lear and Draya Maria as Cordelia. Pic: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan.
Running time: One hour with no interval
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