2.2, 2.7: Bed at Noon, Up at Dawn

Tonight we focused mostly upon one of my favourite scenes: the Trial, I call it. It takes place in some sort of barn or shack, into which Kent and Gloster have managed to manoeuvre all the crazies (Lear, Fool, and Edgar) in the hopes of getting warm and maybe catching some winks. Lear is still delusional, though, and he whips himself up into one last frenzy by imagining his three daughters on trial.

In my version of the script, this is the last scene before intermission. It's very important that we get it right. Fortunately, since my actors are geniuses, they tapped into the scene's exhaustion, desperation, and melancholy introspection right away. Dale pushes himself through his fatigue, convincing himself (and me) that, if he can just get everyone to stand in the right place, his authority will return, and he can regain control over his "pelican daughters."

Meanwhile, Kent is at the end of his rope, the Fool is nearly dead from exposure, and Edgar is starting to suspect that maybe Poor Tom isn't so poor after all when compared to this miserable monarch he sees before him. It's all right there. The scene just clicked.

We also worked an earlier storm scene between Kent and a Knight (whom we've dubbed Gargrave). And I blocked two "out scenes"--one of bodies struggling through the storm, and another, later bit, where Lear sneaks away from Kent and the others while they're taking a nap. It was Dale's inspired decision to have the King spot a butterfly and chase it, giggling, off the stage.