Like any Shakespeare play, King Lear has been adapted countless times, but LEAR does things differently.
LEAR is an all-female and non-binary production from Manchester-based feminist theatre collective Unseemly Women. The company's fourth annual Shakespeare, its four-night run at Prescot's Shakespeare North Playhouse came to an end on Saturday (June 24).
The plot begins as the aging monarch looks to divide his kingdom between his three daughters - Goneril, Regan and Cordelia. The way in which Lear decides his succession will depend on how his daughters declare their love for him.
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Goneril and Regan wax lyrical about their father in order to win his favour, but Cordelia is unwilling to flatter him, nor does she want her love to be used in a competition for his riches. Feeling spurned by his youngest and favourite daughter, the furious King disowns Cordelia.
Goneril and Regan then work to take advantage of Lear and undermine his remaining authority as he swiftly descends into mania.
Coronation Street's Christine Mackie makes for a captivating Lear. She portrays the King's flaws in a very human manner, able to draw both frustration and sympathy from the viewer. Her physical performance sells the King's loss of power, convincingly falling from a figure of all-consuming arrogance to a man who cannot cope as everything slips from his grasp.
Other performances are strong, though it is Haylie Jones as the conniving Edmund - the Earl of Gloucester's illegitimate son - who is the standout. Jones delivers an electric performance, demanding attention whenever on stage and providing a catalyst for the drama. She makes Edmund's schemes the play's most exciting aspects.
Likewise, as Edgar, Alice Proctor is a strong foil for Jones' Edmund. Playing brothers whose subplot gradually leaks into the main drama, the two shine as they face off when the play moves towards its devastating conclusion.
But, despite a strong final act, you are left to care little for Cordelia. Her vanishing and subsequent return into the drama happen with little fanfare, rather than carrying the weight of what should be the play's pivotal moments.
This loss of momentum affects the production throughout. It is limited by sparse staging, which gives the feeling that you are constantly in the same room and kills any scope or scale. Though the playhouse's stage itself is small, the only real set decoration is a table. As such, it can be difficult to feel as if the play is moving between locations or moving on at all.
However, the strength of the performances make this distinctive adaptation of one of Shakespeare's finest plays an entertaining - and at times gripping - experience.
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