{"id":243650,"date":"2010-07-09T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-07-09T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/two-bards-same-but-different\/"},"modified":"2010-07-09T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2010-07-09T07:00:00","slug":"two-bards-same-but-different","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/two-bards-same-but-different\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Bards same but different"},"content":{"rendered":"

Por Patricia Morris Buckley
\nCr\u00edtico de Teatro SDUN<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Two<\/a>
Robert Foxworth plays King Lear in the 2010 Shakespeare Festival production of King Lear, running June 12-Sept. 23 at The Old Globe. (Courtesy Craig Schwartz)<\/figcaption><\/figure>Shakespeare in the park is a wonderful San Diego tradition thanks to the Old Globe Theatre, which is presenting a comedy and a tragedy this summer. These two productions, despite a common cast and set of designers, couldn\u2019t be any more different.<\/p>\n

\u201cKing Lear\u201d has often been called the Bard\u2019s greatest tragedy, one where all the main characters are dead by the end. It\u2019s filled with dark themes, one of history\u2019s most dysfunctional families, bold deceptions and\u2014worst of all\u2014foolish actions that lead to an ominous ending.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, \u201cThe Taming of the Shrew\u201d is a lively comedy where no one perishes, true love prevails and everything ends on a festive note. Of course, there is that pesky problem of it being misogynistic to the extreme, as the title character is starved and bullied into submitting to her new husband. <\/p>\n

As different as these plays are in tone, the two productions vary in success as well. \u201cLear\u201d has a few inspired moments, but they are few and quite far apart. While the show comes in at just three hours, it feels like a full five-hour production of \u201cHamlet.\u201d On the other hand, \u201cShrew\u201d is played for as many laughs as possible and the results are light-hearted and entertaining.<\/p>\n

\u201cLear\u201d is directed by the artistic director of the Old Globe\u2019s Shakespeare Festival, Adrian Noble. Noble is best known as the former artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Co. and as the author of \u201cHow to do Shakespeare.\u201d So it seems odd that this \u201cLear\u201d is so laborious to watch. <\/p>\n

Part of the problem is that so many of the production elements are pushing the play\u2019s subtext squarely in our faces. For instance, the set is a single platform surrounded by a sea of autumn leaves. And King Lear is in the autumn of his life\u2014get it? Or that the storm in the third act is a snowstorm, when Lear is now in the winter of his life. Not exactly subtle. Neither are the costumes, which transition from the soft Georgian looks into WWI military uniforms as the different factions battle each other. <\/p>\n

To Noble\u2019s credit, he hasn\u2019t neutered the play\u2019s visceral elements in a way many theaters do. When the Earl of Gloucester\u2019s eyes are removed, we get bloody eyeballs dripping from another characters hand\u2014just as they would have been in the Bard\u2019s time. When a character is pierced with a sword, there\u2019s plenty of blood. <\/p>\n

The performances are much more subtle, thank goodness. Robert Foxworth\u2019s Lear is arrogant and entitled, then broken down to a bag of hollow bones by the end. This is one of the great roles in theatre and while Foxworth\u2019s Lear isn\u2019t a crowning performance, he captures many of the role\u2019s nuances with admirable skill.<\/p>\n

Also worthy of mention is Bruce Turk as the Fool who is heartbroken in his love for the King, which ultimately leads to his character\u2019s demise. As the Earl\u2019s sons, Jay Whittaker and Jonno Roberts are both razor-sharp as opposing brothers, one the victim, the other a devious villain. <\/p>\n

\"Two<\/a>Roberts returns as Petruchio, the male lead in \u201cShrew,\u201d and he certainly has the charisma, sex appeal and unflagging energy to carry the show. Director Ron Daniels keeps the lusty heat boiling between Roberts and his co-star, Emily Swallow (who also plays Goneril in \u201cLear\u201d). Swallow gives Kate an Angelina Jolie air of strength, superiority and deep passion. Watching Roberts and Swallow in a courtship dance is like a heavyweight match. Highly enjoyable.<\/p>\n

Daniels directs the whole thing as a wink-wink, nudge-nudge comedy, complete with bawdy turns, double takes and even pants that expose an actor\u2019s behind. There\u2019s definitely a feeling that the audience is in on the tongue-in-cheek as a few audience members are seated on stage and the actors include them in a few scenes. And before the show, actors mingle with the audience.<\/p>\n

As most directors do with this comedy, Daniels has to deal with the \u201ctaming\u201d part of the story. He puts the emphasis on Kate\u2019s impulsive and belligerent behavior, as if she were a spoiled brat who must learn to treat others with more respect and dignity. And this fits the show\u2019s light and bouncy tone until the very end, which is when every director cringes because Kate has a speech where she swears her undying obedience to her husband as lord and master. Yuck.<\/p>\n

The problem of adopting the breezy tone is that the audience leaves feeling as if they just saw a rom-com film. It\u2019s fun, but there\u2019s no depth to it. But in the end, it\u2019s the heat between the lead characters that makes the text\u2019s message somewhat bearable. <\/p>\n

The same can be said for Ralph Funicello\u2019s set design, which is really more of a stage design. The stage is bare in both (except for the leaves in \u201cLear\u201d) with a few small additions. \u201cShrew\u201d has a large, lit sign with the title of the show attached to high scaffolding. The best feature of Deirdre Clancy\u2019s costumes is the materials she uses, constructing tailored coats from leather and mixing periods in a satisfying fashion.<\/p>\n

Alan Burrett\u2019s lights in \u201cLear\u201d are stark and glaring, which is a great idea, but tires the eyes over a three-hour production. But his rosy designs for \u201cShrew\u201d fit the show\u2019s tone perfectly. Kudos also to the team that created the stunning snowstorm in \u201cLear.\u201d The image of Lear glowing as he stands in the torrential swirl of white flakes is one of the most memorable I\u2019ve ever seen in San Diego theatre.<\/p>\n

Theatre can show all sides of the human character and many of those faces can be seen in these two vastly different productions. It just depends on whether you prefer comedy or tragedy. Or both.<\/p>\n

\u201cKing Lear\u201d until Sept. 23
\n\u201cTaming of the Shrew\u201d until Sept. 26
\nOld Globe Theatre
\nparque balboa
\n234-5623<\/strong>
\nTheOldGlobe.org<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Patricia Morris Buckley SDUN Theatre Critic Shakespeare in the park is a wonderful San Diego tradition thanks to the Old Globe Theatre, which is presenting a comedy and a tragedy this summer. These two productions, despite a common cast and set of designers, couldn\u2019t be any more different. \u201cKing Lear\u201d has often been called […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1295,"featured_media":243651,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Two Bards same but different","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-243650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1295"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243650\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}