King Lear , presented by Shakespeare’s Globe at the Folger Elizabethan Theatre, Washington, D.C., September 5 - 21, 2014

Directed by Bill Buckhurst. Design by Jonathan Fensom. Choreography by Georgina Lamb. Musical Composition by Alex Silverman. With Gwendolen Chatfield (Goneril/Curan), Bethan Cullinane (Cordelia/Fool), Joseph Marcell (King Lear), Alex Mugnaioni (Edgar/Duke of Cornwall/Duke of Burgundy), Bill Nash (Earl of Kent), Daniel Pirrie (Edmund/Oswald/King of France), Shanaya Rafaat (Regan), and John Stahl (Earl of Gloucester/Duke of Albany/Doctor).Originally mounted at Shakespeare's Globe in London before playing across the United Kingdom and in Malta, this production of King Lear launched a three-month American tour. The performances were finely tuned, tightly blocked and well synched, and the pace was brisk even though the script was leftmore or less intact so that the evening lasted more than three-and-a-half hours. Buckhurst relied heavily upon what have become recognizable mainstays of the Globe style: pre-show banter between actors and the audience; houselights that remained up from start to finish; multiple song and dance routines; and extensive doubling. The results of this approach in realizing what might be Shakespeare's most ambitious tragedy were mixed, accentuating certain themes from the play without fully conveying its scale or pathos.It was easy to imagine the ensemble raising the curtain at another venue the very next night since they brought little with them onto the boards. There was almost nothing to speak of in the way of scenery. Besides a few seats, only costumes and a handful of props adorned the stage, hanging on racks, plainly visible to the audience. Easy-to-reach accoutrements enabled the performers to change roles quickly, a necessity since every actor except for Joseph Marcell took on multiple parts, several of which were not listed in the credits. Such extensive doubling (and in some cases tripling and quadrupling) kept with original theatrical practices, though only eight actors appeared here, fewer than the King's Men likely deployed when premiering King Lear. The changes between characters were, with a few exceptions, fluid and subtly executed. In some instances, the appearance of the same performer in several parts complemented the script's elaborate subplot: the households of Lear and Gloucester seemed remarkably close as actors glided back and forth between them. A standout in this display of dynamic range was the protean Daniel Pirrie. In addition to showing great versatility, he embodied Edmund with enough charisma, energy, and intelligence to make credible the bastard's threat to the throne. Pirrie's Edmund was a driven man, attempting to change not only his fortunes but also a world he felt unjust. But when Pirrie shifted into the character of Oswald-another individual hoping to adjust his position-the audience was asked to contemplate the perils of unchecked social mobility. Also engaging in jumps between roles was Bethan Cullinane, who, as both Cordelia and the Fool, visually linked the two truth tellers most beloved of Lear.The constant shuffling of actors between characters drew attention to the interest in disguise evident throughout King Lear. Indeed, problems associated with concealment bookend the tragedy, from the early court scene in which Cordelia refuses to hide what she thinks, to the close, when Edgar (who has mastered the craftof deception out of necessity) urges everybody to 'Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say' (5.3.330).1 In this light, the difficulty Bill Nash had in making Kent's transformation plausible was jarring. When Kent concealed his identity to remain close to Lear, Nash did almost nothing to modify his voice (or to 'other accents borrow') or to alter his bearing, and reference to a 'razed [. …