It resembles a dolls house, (not the play, but literally). This is the functional set of a Shakespeare's Globe interpretation of King Lear now playing here in New York City at NYU Skirball. in the West Village.
I must admit, I was a bit trepidatious about going to see Shakespeare at the Skirball again. The first experience was a disastrous deconstruction of Othello with the late Phillip Seymour Hoffman playing Iago.
No such high concept employed here. Pure Shakespeare as only Shakespeare's Globe seems to be delivering these days. That means the house lights stay on, the audience is included in the fun (in Shakespeare's day, the "4th wall" had not been invented) and a fresh, lively interpretation of text is delivered with great pacing, acting and stagecraft.
The last Lear I saw that had the same, bare bones, honest quality was when The American Bard Theater Company did it a few years back.
Joseph Marcell as Lear is sublime. When he declares "I am a man!" you will not be able to escape the message so timeless and subtle, yet so powerful and contemporary. He sent chills through me.
Yes Jacobi was inventive with his whispering of the speech during the storm on the heath. Yes, Langella was a powerful physical presence and "every inch a king." But the stripped down versions of Shakespeare's Globe provide a more accessible pathway to the words, the poetry, the music of Shakespeare.
In recent productions of Lear, that poetry, that music, would flash like lightening. In Shakespeare's Globe, the deluge of artistry never stops.
According to Executive Director of Skirball, Michael Harrington: this "...marks the beginning of our new partnership with Shakespeare's Globe..." Meaning we can look forward to more and more of this wonderful, exciting, and enlightening style of theater.
Bravo Globe. Bravo NYU Skirball.
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