National Theatre’s Live Lear: My Notes

What follows are my notes from Sunday, February 20, 2011, when I drove from Toledo, OH, to Ann Arbor, MI through a freakin’ blizzard to watch Derek Jacobi et al tackle Shakespeare’s most depressing and arguably most misogynistic play, King Lear.

Ultimately, this account will be fused with Gaby Malcolm’s experience of the same performance, which I’ll then present at an upcoming popular culture conference in San Antonio, TX. Before we get to the notes, a couple of reminders for those who haven’t read our abstract for the paper:

• Gaby watched King Lear live. In other words, as the cast performed onstage in London, she witnessed the production in a small art-house cinema 115 miles away.
• I watched the same performance of King Lear, but it was not streaming live; in fact, I saw it 3 weeks later.

The Notes (and Tweets)

Before the show begins, I tweet:

Part 1: The Background

The lights in the Michigan Theatre dim. From within the Donmar Theatre in London, a woman onscreen introduces the performance, telling the audience(s) that it’s being broadcast live to cinemas around the world. At this point, I wonder how many people watching it with me in Ann Arbor think it’s actually live. After overhearing a conversation, I pull out my cell phone once again and tweet:

The lady onscreen continues, informing us that the Donmar Theatre, located in downtown London, is a small joint; it holds 250 people. There were five weeks of rehearsal, and the show has been playing for nearly 10 weeks. Finally, the announcer along with the director, Michael Grandage, who has now made his way onstage, tells us “nothing in this performance has been changed.” I take that to mean that there have been no alterations in blocking, costume, staging, etc. for the cameras and edits that will be made as the live show is filmed.

Part 2: Donmar Video

Next, we at the Michigan Theatre are shown a promotional video of sorts for the Donmar Theatre, which apparently produces about six plays per year. In the promo, Jude Law (who needs to shave his unflattering, skinny mustache), Gillian Anderson, Alfred Molina, and Michael Grandage inform us that the Donmar is “an actor’s theatre” because of the lack of distance between action and audience. Sometimes it’s “so close you’re uncomfortable,” one of the performers admits.

Grandage goes on to describe the set for his production of Lear: a “white timber box,” which suggests both a sparse “pagan world” and the white cliffs of Dover. Then, in time-lapse, we witness designers and carpenters building the set. The video finishes with an obvious shout-out to those sitting in theatres all around the world participating in this NT Live experiment. Specifically, Grandage wonders aloud how he can get his most popular productions (like this Lear) to the public. A live broadcast is the way. And so, here we go.

Part 3: King Lear

Scribbling notes in the dark is tough. Here’s what I wrote:

• Despite the opening shots — high angle, long shot of Lear’s map and afterward a dolly back, now straight-on level of entire cast — I’m worried about lack of camera movement, editing techniques. In short, will this have a cinematic feel at all? Or is this going to resemble the BBC filmed Shakespeare of the 1980s?
• As Lear talks to Cordelia about what she wants, the two are edited in (almost) a shot/reverse shot pattern. So, yay, editing!
• When Cordelia is banished, a wide angle of the entire stage! I like. Suggesting Lear’s bloated nature, distortion?
• Medium shot on Regan and Goneril as they scheme; cinematic audiences (not those in theatre), allowed to be up close and personal as the women plot.
• Edmund enters: extraordinarily loud footsteps. This seems off, almost like bad sound effects. No one else makes this much noise when s/he walks/enters. Distracting for a moment.
• I hear coughing from the Donmar, reminding me that there are two audiences here, the “real” (them) and the “fake” (me).
• When the Fool moves his clothes about, the microphone makes static noises. Again, theatrical, not cinematic.
• Close-up shots as Lear is thrown out of his daughters’ houses. Jacobi is sweating. A lot. I wonder if the Donmar audience is as fully aware of this as I.
• Another wide-angle shot when Lear curses Goneril. I like this once more. Again, the stage/frame feels distorted, off-kilter, just like Lear’s world.
• Lear: “Let me be not mad…” The camera slowly dollies forward here, moving us closer to Lear as he begins (or continues?) his ultimate demise.
• Another slow dolly forward when Kent is placed in the stocks.
• “Oooo, I want Goneril’s coat.” (Hey, I’m just transposing what I wrote.) =)
• Jacobi’s interpretation/delivery of “Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow!…” was to die for. Will never forget it. He began softly, very softly, and exhaled each word, making blow, crack, thunderbolts, rumble, and spit sound onomatopoetic. Did not want him to end that speech.

After this, my notes are illegible or few, mostly repeating technical terms, e.g., another dolly forward when Kent reads Cordelia’s letter, some sort of crosscutting from Gloucester/Edgar to [somebody].

Before leaving the theatre and getting in the car for the dreadful, snowy/ice trek back to Toledo, I tweet the following.

So there was an eyeball-sized blood stain on the
back wall for the remainder of the performance.

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