Decided against Bullingdon on this occasion, not wanting to be encumbered with cycle helmet and consigned to the cloakroom again, so taking directions from some walking in London web site, found it took just about the half hour to walk from Waterloo, as advertised. The city, its bars and restaurants seemed very quiet, this Friday before Christmas. Larger building sites all seemed to have shut down.
Theatre full downstairs, mainly but not exclusively older people. Younger portion of the audience irritatingly prone to tittering at the wrong places. They did not seem to understand that old fashioned notions such as faith, allegiance, base and honour were once important. I was also interested by trust coming up; in particular trust amongst thieves, perhaps because I have been reading about the lack of same in Simenon. Or hearing about the same among the Borgias. How are two villains to come to trust each other?
Good set, not too complicated, with entertaining mobiles to point up the planetary spheres. Dress very suitable, vaguely Jacobean without making a meal of it. Thankfully, no transgender stuff either, despite this seeming to be mandatory just presently, but plenty of diversity otherwise, with near half the substantial cast being people of colour - Afro rather than Asian. Including a not very satisfactory, a weak rather than a piratical Edmund. Edgar better.
Sher as Lear serviceable, better at being old than regal, with the regal bits seeming a bit camped up. But all his fault, unlike at reference 1, where I came away thinking that it was all Cordelia's fault.
The words, especially Lear's, were spoken slowly, which made them easier than usual to understand, if a bit destructive of the rhythm. Perhaps the best that one can do with what more or less amounts to a foreign language. Do people do translations rather than adaptations? Running time excluding interval of about three hours, and it felt cut, although the only place I actually caught a cut was in Act V, Scene III, where 'an excellent thing in a woman' was lopped off the line (273) starting 'Gentle and low', presumably deemed sexist in this diversity conscious age.
They managed the duel at the end much better than they did at the Rose. Echoes of the aborted combat at the beginning of Richard II. Another play where the word base carries a lot of weight, albeit in a slightly different sense.
Programme good value for money. Gift shop tasteful but expensive.
The illustration was taken from the gettyimages French department of all places and features Sher as Lear with Troughton as Gloucester. With Troughton better known to me as a splendidly manic drama teacher from an episode of Midsomer Murders. Performance here sound if not inspired, which more or less sums up the production as a whole. But the plays survives, has worn well.
Followed up by a visit to the Wetherspoons' library at Tooting where I failed to make any withdrawals. Reasonably busy, but nothing like the last working day hijinks of my youth.
Two overlapping threes at Earlsfield. I think, without checking, the best score for a little while.
PS: the scrolling algorithm for the displays in the bus stops for London buses could do with some quality time from a decent programmer. Not too clever at all at the moment, at least not in Tooting.
Reference 1: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/sponsored-by-julius-bar.html. National, taken twice.
Reference 2: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/leery.html. Rose.
Reference 3: http://psmv3.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/dressing-up.html. Duke of York's. The Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead version, as it were. With the Rosencrantz and Guildenstern thing itself to be seen next year.
Reference 4: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/henry-iv-part-i-part-ii.html. My last sighting of Sher, as Falstaff.
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