Blocking: "Nothing, my lord."

Thinking about the love test some more last night after writing the previous entry, I was struck by the visual asymmetry of the scene. Goneril and Regan both have husbands, and it makes sense to place them in pairs, so that the audience can start to associate Goneril with Albany and Regan with Cornwall (I still get them mixed up). But what about Cordelia? The odd one out.

As a mental challenge, I tried to envision a means of staging it symmetrically. I came up with a sort of a diamond shape, with Lear upstage centre, on his throne, G&A stage right, R&C stage left, and Cordelia...well, she’d have to go downstage centre, then, wouldn’t she, but facing up towards Lear. She’d have to kneel so we could see him. Most likely, they would all kneel until called upon to speak (some attendants might precede them to lay cushions or rugs down for them—pageantry is good).

Placing Cordelia downstage centre means two things. First, when she wants to whisper her asides to the audience, all she needs to do is literally look over her shoulder. The audience becomes her confidante, and sees the scene from her perspective. Second, when she stands up to speak her simple, earth-shattering line, “Nothing, my lord,” her back would be to the audience (ie. we would see nothing of her face)...but it would also mean that, depending on where you are sitting, your site line to Lear would also be blocked—Lear obliterated, made into a blindspot. Made into nothing by those three little words.

From there, I imagine the formality would break apart, Lear would get out of his throne, and things would start to move more naturally around the stage. But for the love test itself...yeah, that configuration just might work.