fbpx
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Print Edition
    • Get Home Delivery
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
    • Advertise
    • Customer Support
    • Submit A News Tip
    • Where’s My Paper?
  • Subscribe to Our Newsletters
    • Hey Kingston
    • New Paltz Times
    • Woodstock Times
    • Week in Review
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Free HV1 Trial
Hudson Valley One
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Log In
No Result
View All Result
Hudson Valley One
No Result
View All Result

King Lear at Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival

by Rich Corozine
April 1, 2016
in Entertainment, Stage & Screen
0

king lear @Poor King Lear. He’s fading fast and simply wants to divide the kingdom into three parts, with each going to his three daughters, Goneril (the oldest), Regan (the middle child) and his youngest, Cordelia. But the old-timer is also not adverse to a little flattery and ass-kissing in his dotage, to which Goneril and Regan provide sustenance. Meanwhile his favorite, Cordelia, tells him the truth, that she cannot put her feelings to him into words. Turning suddenly into a petulant crank, Lear responds rather badly, setting into motion acts of maddening hubris that destroy his kingdom and nearly everyone in it. At the end he lies dead next to his beloved (and executed) Cordelia, near to his murdered Regan (poisoned by Goneril) and subsequent suicide, his Goneril.

Ah, family life. Me thinks that the good Bard was not a big fan of it.

This is one difficult play to stage, what with all the deaths piling up as Lear goes mad and those around him plot and scheme their way to early graves. Director Terrence O’Brien has taken a less-is-more approach, as did the famed Peter Brook, who directed Paul Scofield in the most famous staged-production at Stratford-on-Avon in 1962. Using a blank stage and a few incidental props, O’Brien lets the power of the characters overwhelm the murderous plot. And of course the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Company is up to the task.

With Stephen Paul Johnson ranting, raving and clinging to his little bit of sanity as Lear, the production is in better than just good hands. Johnson is not without a certain sly charm in this portrayal, giving Lear a what-once-was peek back to his glory days a special resonance. Johnson’s Lear still has vitality, he’s not just an old coot ready to be put out to pasture. The old boy still has some fight in him. He just wants to see that his kingdom stays in the family. He’s a kind of early version of Vito Corleone, a force of nature succumbing to his unreflected-upon limitations and the consequences thereof.

The three daughters are well cast. Chiara Motley as Goneril and Eleanor Handley as Regan are devious and cold-hearted, manipulating all around them to murder and treachery. Jessica Frey as Cordelia is different. But her naive truth-telling does not set us free. The story is propelled to its grizzly conclusion.

This quartet of powerful performances bring to mind the fable of the scorpion riding the frog across a river. He kills it and explains while drowning: “It is just my nature.” Each member of this happy family is trapped according to their nature in that fated world of action and reaction.

An engaging subplot concerns the loyal-to-the-King Earl of Gloucester, his elder son Edgar and his younger bastard son Edmund, who has twisted the poor old earl into thinking that his “real” son is out to usurp him. Like Lear, Gloucester reacts badly, banishing Edgar to the hinterlands of England. And like with the king he also discovers that he is easily fooled by a progeny who caters to his insecurities. All seems lost as poor Gloucester, friendless, and with his eyes gouged out by a malevolent Duke of Cornwall (husband of Regan), meets a madman called Tom O’Bedlam roaming the moors. Tom, his son Edgar in disguise, saves his life, while bastard son Edmund seduces both Goneril and Regan to gain power. The Duke of Albany (husband of Goneril) is disgusted with the goings on and denounces his wife. This leads to the deaths of both sisters. And the venal Edmund.

All here are superb: Richard Ercole as Gloucester, Ryan Quinn as Edmund, Michael Borelli as Cornwall, and Dan Matise as Albany. Particularly notable is Charlie Francis Murphy as Edgar, who gives this family business a better shake, standing by his misled father in his hour of danger. Besides offering the few minutes of humor in Lear as Tom the Fool, speaking a stream-of-consciousness Renaissance rap, Edgar’s sincerity in initially hiding who he is from his father is a beautiful counterpoint to not only brother Edmund’s conceit but also to Lear’s dysfunctional family. Murphy handles the role perfectly.

But the play is King Lear. Johnson, going stark, raving mad, finally realizes what he has done. He teams with Cordelia, who is leading a French army against her own country, to try and right his wrongs. But it is too late. Everyone save Albany, Lear’s loyal lieutenant Kent and Edgar are dead. As he carries Cordelia’s body onstage, Lear laments:

“Howl, howl, howl! O, you are men of stones:

Had I your tongues and eyes, I’d use them so

That heaven’s vault should crack. She’s gone forever!

I know when one is dead and when one lives;

She’s dead as earth.”

But heaven does not crack. And we are left with the corpse of Cordelia and a howling, insane old king, ready for death. I guess that is the true nature of things.

Hudson Valley Shakespeare’s 27th year at beautiful Boscobel overlooking the Hudson is also offering the Bard’s “All’s Well That Ends Well” and Dumas, “Three Musketeers.” The three plays will run until September 1 at Boscobel, which is located just a mile South of Cold Spring on Route 9D, overlooking Constitution Island and West Point on the Hudson. Online sales are at hvshakespeare.org or call the box office at 265-9575 for tickets and/or information.

Join the family! Grab a free month of HV1 from the folks who have brought you substantive local news since 1972. We made it 50 years thanks to support from readers like you. Help us keep real journalism alive.
- Geddy Sveikauskas, Publisher
Previous Post

From up on Poppy Hill captures postwar Yokohama in gorgeous detail

Next Post

Wassiac Project

Rich Corozine

Related Posts

Woodstock Film Festival preview
Stage & Screen

Woodstock Film Festival preview

September 27, 2023
Dracula in the Widow Jane Mine
Stage & Screen

Dracula in the Widow Jane Mine

September 26, 2023
Diverse fall concert series at new Saugerties venue
Entertainment

Famous hairstylist taking appointments at mini-festival in Kingston this weekend

September 22, 2023
Don’t miss this Midtown Kingston celebration of community and mental wellness
Community

Don’t miss this Midtown Kingston celebration of community and mental wellness

September 22, 2023
Festival of Awakening in Woodstock
Community

Festival of Awakening in Woodstock

September 21, 2023
Revered local percussion quartet plays farewell show this Saturday at Bardavon
Stage & Screen

Revered local percussion quartet plays farewell show this Saturday at Bardavon

September 19, 2023
Next Post

Wassiac Project

Trending News

  • Miller Middle School approves deployment of resource officer for 2023-24 school year 1.4k views
  • Dog owners ask the town for more support at the Ulster County Dog Park 1.1k views
  • Famous hairstylist taking appointments at mini-festival in Kingston this weekend 1.1k views
  • Legendary rock royalty performs in Woodstock this weekend 666 views
  • Gilberto Nunez, Kingston dentist acquitted of murder but convicted on other charges, set loose 592 views
  • In New Paltz, a plant store, a massage provider, and a tattooist open a store together 570 views

Weather

Kingston
◉
46°
Cloudy
6:49 am6:43 pm EDT
Feels like: 46°F
Wind: 2mph N
Humidity: 98%
Pressure: 30.33"Hg
UV index: 0
FriSatSun
59/54°F
70/52°F
75/55°F
Weather forecast Kingston, New York ▸

Subscribe

Independent. Local. Substantive. Subscribe now.

  • Subscribe & Support
  • Print Edition
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
  • Subscribe to Our Newsletters
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Free HV1 Trial

© 2022 Ulster Publishing

No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Contact Us
    • Customer Support
    • Advertise
    • Submit A News Tip
  • Print Edition
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
    • Where’s My Paper
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Log In
  • Free HV1 Trial
  • Subscribe to Our Newsletters
    • Hey Kingston
    • New Paltz Times
    • Woodstock Times
    • Week in Review

© 2022 Ulster Publishing