Skip to main content

Lear’s Fool

Kibble Palace, Botanic Gardens, Glasgow

Four stars

If a king can’t follow rules, suggests Lear’s Fool turned gamesmaster to her old boss and his daughter at one point in David Henry Wilson’s play, it will be chaos. Wise words indeed, as Wilson fills in the gaps of Shakespeare’s historical tragedy, as we see what became of Lear’s much loved jester following their disappearing act mid way through Shakespeare’s play. That this came just as the king descended into madness makes one even more curious. 

Bundled into a cell by clearly smitten guard, John, Nicole Cooper’s Fool is always ‘on’, keeping up the act whatever. The Fool’s reflex tomfoolery is used to disguise a huge intellect, a way with a metaphor and much more besides. This goes unappreciated by some audiences, including John. As with every soothsaying comic, however, there is a lot of serious stuff going on behind the mask.

Wilson’s one act curio was first seen in 1994, and has been picked up for its Scottish premiere by the ever-exploratory Bard in the Botanics company. Jennifer Dick’s production brings the play to life with a depth that sees Cooper have huge amounts of fun as The Fool. Even as Sam Stopford’s John is charmed and Johnny Panchaud’s Captain has the wool pulled over his eyes, a sadness comes through beyond the surface smiles. In mourning for the man known as Nuncle, a back-story is laid bare suggesting a whole new side to the duo’s relationship. 

When Lear and Cordelia eventually turn up, the king’s madness, it seems, has been abated. The Fool’s exchanges with Finlay McLean’s Lear and Stephanie McGregor’s Cordelia are laced with familiar lines, as if Lear and The Fool were a double act holding on to well worn catchphrases for comfort. As assorted fates are sealed, the punchline, when it comes, is no laughing matter. 


The Herald, September 21st 2023

ends

 

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Losing Touch With My Mind - Psychedelia in Britain 1986-1990

DISC 1 1. THE STONE ROSES   -  Don’t Stop 2. SPACEMEN 3   -  Losing Touch With My Mind (Demo) 3. THE MODERN ART   -  Mind Train 4. 14 ICED BEARS   -  Mother Sleep 5. RED CHAIR FADEAWAY  -  Myra 6. BIFF BANG POW!   -  Five Minutes In The Life Of Greenwood Goulding 7. THE STAIRS  -  I Remember A Day 8. THE PRISONERS  -  In From The Cold 9. THE TELESCOPES   -  Everso 10. THE SEERS   -  Psych Out 11. MAGIC MUSHROOM BAND  -  You Can Be My L-S-D 12. THE HONEY SMUGGLERS  - Smokey Ice-Cream 13. THE MOONFLOWERS  -  We Dig Your Earth 14. THE SUGAR BATTLE   -  Colliding Minds 15. GOL GAPPAS   -  Albert Parker 16. PAUL ROLAND  -  In The Opium Den 17. THE THANES  -  Days Go Slowly By 18. THEE HYPNOTICS   -  Justice In Freedom (12" Version) ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Myra Mcfadyen - An Obituary

Myra McFadyen – Actress   Born January 12th 1956; died October 18th 2024   Myra McFadyen, who has died aged 68, was an actress who brought a mercurial mix of lightness and depth to her work on stage and screen. Playwright and artistic director of the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, David Greig, called McFadyen “an utterly transformative, shamanic actor who could change a room and command an audience with a blink”. Citizens’ Theatre artistic director Dominic Hill described McFadyen’s portrayal of Puck in his 2019 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre in London as “funny, mischievous and ultimately heartbreaking.”   For many, McFadyen will be most recognisable from Mamma Mia!, the smash hit musical based around ABBA songs. McFadyen spent two years on the West End in Phyllida Lloyd’s original 1999 stage production, and was in both film offshoots. Other big screen turns included Rob Roy (1995) and Our Ladies (2019), both directed by Mi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Andrew Midgley obituary

Born October 26th 1965 Died October 28th 2010 Andrew Midgley, who has died of a heart attack during a session in a Musselburgh gym aged forty-five, didn’t look like a pop star. Neither did this most garrulously playful of raconteurs particularly enjoy talking about his brief time in the charts during the early 1990s. Yet, while there was far more to this most singular of autodidacts, as one half of club-dance duo Cola Boy, Midgley caught the pop-rave zeitgeist with appearances on Top of the Pops performing the band’s infectiously catchy top ten hit, Seven Ways To Love. Even here, however, just as he would later apply diligence and care behind the scenes as a sub-editor on the Edinburgh Evening News, creating two of the funniest websites on the planet or managing an award-winning comedian, the man nicknamed ‘Boy Naughty’ preferred to stay in the background, allowing former Wham! backing singer turned Radio Two DJ Janey Lee Grace to bask in the day-glo spotlight of the period. Mid...
Post a Comment
Read more