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zvi and I went to see Synetic Theater's King Lear this past Saturday.
The first thing is that the entire cast was dressed as clowns -- white-faced make-up, exaggerated costumes, and ridiculously hairstyles -- and this makes things extremely creepy, even before proceeds to the violence. The dance battle between Regan and Goneril as they complete for Lear's regard looks like it should be funny, and it is to an extent, but it's also surprisingly vicious. The entire show is, if you've never seen any of Synetic's Shakespeare adaptations. The image of a blinded *clown* Gloucester shivering in fear on stage is one that is going to stay with me a long time.
Also, they've gender-reversed Cordelia into Cordelio -- and yes, he still runs off with the King of France. They still invade toward the end of the play, and it still winds up with everyone dead. Cordelio is hanged on stage -- with a harness for the actor, obviously, but it's a gruesome scene nontheless. Regan herself blinds Gloucester (very violently, with her servants holding him down and him kicking and struggled -- the application of red grease-paint over his face is gruesome), and Edmund is absolutely creepy in how he turns Gloucester and Edgar against each other with what sure as heck looks like sympathetic magic on stage -- writing curses and pinning them to mannequin heads that represent his father and brother, before he goes to talk to each separately and completely fuck with their heads.
Edgar playing 'Poor Tom' was really well done, and there was a very poignant bit were Lear put on ruff and cap on him, very similar to what Cordelio wore in the previous act. Since Cordelio was basically costumed as Pierrot, and the Fool was dressed as a slightly different Pierrot, this was quite pathetic and sad. The recurring Spirit of Death was dressed pretty much as the Bride of Frankenstein, and her costume was one of the most somber and low-key of the play, but that worked very well. One of my favorite effects was the 'Blow, Winds! Crack your cheeks!' scene -- six dancers came out to surround Lear covered in black gauze draping, and a fan from off-stage made them very effective 'winds'. And then the strobe light effect started, and it was quite disorientating and creepy.
Also, as Lear degenerated, he lost more and more of his makeup, going from a white-faced clown to just a man. Since everyone else was still in white-face, which made them all look like they were wearing masks, it really humanized Lear in unexpected ways.
At the very end, the Fool comes out on the stage on which just about everyone was dead, with a bundle of balloons in her hands. She put a loop around the neck of every 'dead' character, starting with Cordelio. And then all the dancers drifted up to their feet and began to bob gently, like they were being held up by the balloon as the end music played a gentle, almost sweet melody -- it was a completely creepy visual of corpses bobbing in the breeze. I've come to expect astounding adaptations from Synetic, and I wasn't disappointed at all.
We also ate before the show at Carmine's -- two sandwiches were entirely too much food for two people. I think we could have fed *six* with what was brought to the table. Unfortunately, the 'side' salads were quite oily, which is not at all how I like my raw greens. The cannoli were not bad, though I have never had any with the proper thin shells all the time I've lived on the East Coast
zvi and I went to see Synetic Theater's King Lear this past Saturday.The first thing is that the entire cast was dressed as clowns -- white-faced make-up, exaggerated costumes, and ridiculously hairstyles -- and this makes things extremely creepy, even before proceeds to the violence. The dance battle between Regan and Goneril as they complete for Lear's regard looks like it should be funny, and it is to an extent, but it's also surprisingly vicious. The entire show is, if you've never seen any of Synetic's Shakespeare adaptations. The image of a blinded *clown* Gloucester shivering in fear on stage is one that is going to stay with me a long time.
Also, they've gender-reversed Cordelia into Cordelio -- and yes, he still runs off with the King of France. They still invade toward the end of the play, and it still winds up with everyone dead. Cordelio is hanged on stage -- with a harness for the actor, obviously, but it's a gruesome scene nontheless. Regan herself blinds Gloucester (very violently, with her servants holding him down and him kicking and struggled -- the application of red grease-paint over his face is gruesome), and Edmund is absolutely creepy in how he turns Gloucester and Edgar against each other with what sure as heck looks like sympathetic magic on stage -- writing curses and pinning them to mannequin heads that represent his father and brother, before he goes to talk to each separately and completely fuck with their heads.
Edgar playing 'Poor Tom' was really well done, and there was a very poignant bit were Lear put on ruff and cap on him, very similar to what Cordelio wore in the previous act. Since Cordelio was basically costumed as Pierrot, and the Fool was dressed as a slightly different Pierrot, this was quite pathetic and sad. The recurring Spirit of Death was dressed pretty much as the Bride of Frankenstein, and her costume was one of the most somber and low-key of the play, but that worked very well. One of my favorite effects was the 'Blow, Winds! Crack your cheeks!' scene -- six dancers came out to surround Lear covered in black gauze draping, and a fan from off-stage made them very effective 'winds'. And then the strobe light effect started, and it was quite disorientating and creepy.
Also, as Lear degenerated, he lost more and more of his makeup, going from a white-faced clown to just a man. Since everyone else was still in white-face, which made them all look like they were wearing masks, it really humanized Lear in unexpected ways.
At the very end, the Fool comes out on the stage on which just about everyone was dead, with a bundle of balloons in her hands. She put a loop around the neck of every 'dead' character, starting with Cordelio. And then all the dancers drifted up to their feet and began to bob gently, like they were being held up by the balloon as the end music played a gentle, almost sweet melody -- it was a completely creepy visual of corpses bobbing in the breeze. I've come to expect astounding adaptations from Synetic, and I wasn't disappointed at all.
We also ate before the show at Carmine's -- two sandwiches were entirely too much food for two people. I think we could have fed *six* with what was brought to the table. Unfortunately, the 'side' salads were quite oily, which is not at all how I like my raw greens. The cannoli were not bad, though I have never had any with the proper thin shells all the time I've lived on the East Coast