Readers may be aware that The Old Globe is celebrating its 75th anniversary, and have they got a summer festival season for you! Selected by Shakespeare Festival artistic director Adrian Noble, former director of the Royal Shakespeare, two works by William Shakespeare and another more recent work by Alan Bennett play in alternating repertory nightly except Mondays on the Globe’s outdoor stage. Which to see if you haven’t time for all three? It depends upon your taste. Playing through Sept. 23, “King Lear” is Shakespeare’s great tragedy about an aged ruler (played by television and film actor Robert Foxworth), who intends to divide his kingdom between his three daughters, Goneril, Regan and Cordelia. All they must do is say how, why and how much they love him. By the time the two eldest have spoken in glowing, flowery and most likely insincere terms, the youngest, Cordelia, who truly reveres and loves her father, is at a loss to express her feelings; and so she is disinherited and exiled to France. Lear goes mad, gloriously and inexorably, and with only his Fool (Bruce Turk) for company, he wanders the English moors, encountering benevolent and not so benevolent others, until at last he is reunited with Cordelia. Alas, it is too late. Playing through Sept. 24, Alan Bennett’s “Madness of George III” is a companion piece of sorts for “Lear” in that it, too, concerns a mad monarch, in this case George III of England, who ruled at the time of the American Revolution. King George is brilliantly played by British star Miles Anderson in his Old Globe debut. Foxworth portrays Dr. Willis, who cures his madness, at least temporarily. The contrast between Lear and Willis is extraordinary and this play’s resonance with “Lear” is truly a joy. Emily Swallow, who plays the title role in Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew,” plays Queen Charlotte. Scenes between the king and queen, from whom he is unwillingly separated, are among the best. Playing through Sept. 26 is the comedy with which this season’s festival leavens the tragedy of “Lear” and the medical torture of “George III.” Among the Bard’s most popular comedies, the play pits the Shrew (Swallow, a most intelligent and attractive woman) and a young man named Petruchio (Jonno Roberts, a fine actor, a magnificent hunk and portrayer of the murderous Edmund in “Lear”), who “comes to wive [sic] it wealthily in Padua.” The chemistry between this sparring pair is palpable indeed. Festival costume designer Deirdre Clancy attires the lovers beautifully. Her production-spanning concept evinces high standards. Sound designer Christopher R. Walker provides a terrific a cappella chorus for the servants. Ron Daniels, formerly associated with the Royal Shakespeare’s experimental company and who staged the Globe’s hip-hop “Kingdom” last season, directs the comedy. Noble stages “Lear” and “George III.” The joy of a repertory season is watching the extraordinary “stretch” an actor like Roberts makes when he moves from one role to another, playing a villain one night and a testosterone-filled lover the next. It’s also great fun to see the modifications made to Ralph Funicello’s scenic design from one show to another. Each production has its virtues. No matter which one chooses, the pay off includes a glorious outdoor theatrical experience at the Lowell Davis Festival Theatre in Balboa Park, where the animals in the nearby zoo add unexpected sound and the stately trees are the real McCoy. A complete schedule of performances may be found at www.theoldglobe.org or phone (619) 23-GLOBE.
