Director's Notes

With deadlines looming, I wrote up some Director's Notes for the program of King Lear. I hate this job; although I normally don't mind writing about my plays (and if you ever needed evidence, this blog is it), but I don't like to be charged with the task of framing the play for spectators who are about to view it. Why can't the play speak for itself?

Well, anyway, here's what I came up with:

Like most of Shakespeare’s tragedies, Lear is about a family in crisis. It just so happens that the family is of royal blood, and therefore their calamities expand and magnify, resulting in terrible political and social catastrophes. But Shakespeare wasn’t really all that interested in politics, or even war (most of his battle scenes take place off stage). He turned his amazing insight directly onto the private hearts of his family figures: Lear and Gloster, the headstrong fathers; Goneril, Regan, and Edmund, the disgruntled children; Cordelia and Edgar, the loyal son and daughter.

It’s all rather like a fairy tale, but Shakespeare can’t help but give all of his characters psychological depth. Even a minor character like the Fool, whose lines are dense with riddles, songs, and outright nonsense, still plays as a human being, and a very touching one at that. In fact, as much as this is a play about grand heroes and villains, it’s also about minor characters. This is a world where a nameless servant can profoundly change the course of events, if she has the courage to stand up and speak her mind.

It’s been a privilege and a pleasure to watch this outstanding cast plumb the depths of one of Shakespeare’s greatest plays. From those who, like me, have been immersed in Shakespeare since the womb, to those for whom this is their first exploration of the Bard, everyone has shown great insight, energy and enthusiasm in helping to tell this (often draining) tale. I hope you find our production thought-provoking, moving, and above all, relevant—because although most of us don’t have the family problems that Lear does, we all have families.