Staging the Fool and the “Stage of Fools”: King Lear by Shakespeare and Kozintsev

Human existence as parallel to actors playing their roles on stage is an important theme expressed in Shakespeare’s King Lear and Grigori Kozintsev’s film adaptation of the same play. Following the tradition of the truth saying fool as depicted by Erasmus in Praise of Folly, the Fool in Shakespeare and Kozintsev plays an important role in highlighting to Lear and the audience that the kingly pomp and authority are mere props in the stage of the world. Kozintsev’s staging of the Fool, while deviating the most from the play, serves to convey the message of Shakespeare’s King Lear. Kozintsev’s Fool is visible throughout the film, entering the scene with the king and remaining in the scene even after the king dies. The Fool grows closer to King Lear in proximity as the King is stripped of his authority. Moreover, the Fool controls the tune of the film’s last scene as he plays music, and enacts the birth into the stage of fools. Such extended presence of the Fool is used by the director to convey the universal message on the nature of human existence explored in Shakespeare.