‘King Lear’ @ Shakespeare Dallas
Photos by Alex Rain
—Hannah Kneen
Now that the weather is finally cooling down, it’s a fine time for a bit of Shakespeare in the park—and just in time, here’s Shakespeare Dallas’s season-ending King Lear, directed by Christie Vela, playing at the Samuell-Grand Amphitheatre. If you haven’t seen this famous Shakespeare tragedy in a while—or ever—now’s the time.
King Lear (T.A. Taylor) has ruled for many years and is looking to pass on his rulership to his three daughters. In order to set the boundaries of their inheritances, he tests them by asking them to show him which of them loves him most. While two of the daughters, Goneril (Nicole Berastequi) and Regan (Whitney Holotik), flatter and fawn on him, his youngest and most loved daughter Cordelia (Thi Le) refuses to play the game.
For this, she is left with nothing. Lear divides his kingdom between his two older daughters and is slowly but surely stripped of all the benefits of rule. With his power, wealth, and status gone he finally understands the real natures of his daughters and sinks into madness. The one daughter who truly loves him may be the only salvation remaining for both king and kingdom.
Two characters express madness in this story, one truly (Lear) and one as pretense when Edgar (Carson Wright), son of Gloucester (Ethan Norris), goes on the run as a result of his illegitimate brother Edmund’s (Ben Stegmair) scheming. Both Taylor and Wright handle the difficult parts well. I was particularly impressed by Taylor’s Lear: though the script has been trimmed shorter than the original play, Taylor makes Lear’s descent into madness believable and heart-wrenching.
Nicole Berastequi’s Goneril is passionate; her emotions feel as real as Lear’s. She and Omar Padilla, who plays her husband Duke of Albany, have a wonderfully stormy relationship and make a nice counterpoint to the more “in sync” matched pair of Regan (Holotik) and Cornwall (Michael Stimac). Ben Stegmair’s Edmund was, of course, delightfully devious; it was fun watching his demeanor change depending on his scene partner and what he wanted from them.
This is an eye-catching show. The entire two-story set, designed by Michael Sullivan, is painted a vivid crimson. The costumes, designed by Ryan Matthieu Smith, are clearly made with this set in mind: fabrics are predominantly in neutral colors with some reds, pinks, and oranges mixed in. Color also indicates allegiances: for example, Regan and her husband are clad in bright red, while Goneril’s color is closer to maroon. Similarly the lighting, designed by Aaron Johansen, is specific to place, with hints of blues for the homes of the two older daughters, greens for the outdoors, and warm yellows for Cordelia’s location with the French army. Quite a visually satisfying production.
Lear’s tragedy, brilliant though it is, can drag on forever if performed whole—so I’m appreciative of this production’s well-cut script. (Run time is about 90 minutes with a short intermission.) Though the plot is complicated and can be hard to follow if you’re unfamiliar with the story, this is a play worth knowing and a show worth seeing.
WHEN: Sept. 15 - Oct. 15, 2023
WHERE: Samuell-Grand Amphitheatre
