King Lear (review)

Bonnie Monte’s direction of King Lear emphasized the STNJ’s 2008 season theme of the quest for one’s identity and highlighted the play’s relevance to our time. In the director’s notes, she wrote: “It is . . . about a world completely out of balance, awash in chaos, and leaderless.” As she has in previous seasons, she found connections between Shakespeare’s text and our times. In this production, her emphasis was on the evolution of the identities of three characters: Lear, Kent, and Edgar.

Erin Partin (left) as Cordelia and Daniel Davis (right) as Lear in The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey’s 2008 production of King Lear, directed by Bonnie Monte. Photo: © Gerry Goodstein.

The backdrop for this bleak, chaotic universe was a molded-fiberglass set that represented a plain of bare rock with a mountain in the stage-right background. A ledge in the mountain formed an upper stage area and served as the roof of a cave carved into the mountainside. Incised steps, cleverly disguised in the “rock,” allowed the characters to traverse the mountain’s slopes. At the stage front, a rock spur jutted sharply upward from the set and served as another smaller stage area. This stark set, shaded in tones of gray and black, added to the feeling of desolation in this heartless world. Strategically placed, removable fabric panels denoted different locales, from Lear’s court to Gloucester’s house. The set was evocative of the early Britonnic period. The use of the bare rock, the costumes, the bone weapons, and the absence of shoes (except for Lear and Gloucester) suggested a primitive era, one in which sacrifices were common.

A massive, rectangular, gray stone table was center stage. On it rested the map of the kingdom, flanked by two substantial candles. The effect, repeated throughout the production, suggested an altar. Goneril and Albany entered and took position stage left, while Regan and Cornwall entered and stood stage right. The exchange of knowing looks between these siblings and their spouses suggested that something was going on to which the audience was not yet privy. Lear and Cordelia entered laughing with their arms around each other; she was singing happily to him.

They parted and Lear, in his flowing royal-blue robe and black gown, went to stand behind his “altar.” When Goneril stepped forward to view her portion of the map, she came alone. Although not summoned, Corn-wall joined Regan to look at her portion. The tableau presented was striking. Lear was at the center, hovering over the table. On either side were Goneril and Regan and their respective attendants. Unwittingly, Lear was creating two opposing armies who were about to do battle. Cordelia stood stage right. Emotionally and physically an outsider, she had no place, no connection with these antagonists forming ranks before her.

By yielding his powers to Goneril and to Regan, Lear sacrificed not only his kingdom but also his very identity upon the altar of his vanity. Lear was so consumed with being King that he lost all sense of his individuality. He was no longer a human being, but a title; consequently, in his railings the two words were inextricably associated: “Am I not Lear? Am I not King?” His wanderings between the two daughters...