Kline takes on Lear

[Theatreboy33]

Posted: 6/29/06 at 4:43pm

So it's not official. Kevin Kline will play Lear at the public. Very exciting news, and yet, I feel he still may not be old enough--at least from what I've head in interviews with all the Brit greats. For them, Lear was always the last great mountain to climb. But is Kline really that close to the end?

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 6/29/06 at 5:15pm

I would like to see that. Stacy Keach is playing Lear at the Goodman in Chicago next season. He also previously played the role of Edmund in Lear on Broadway in 1968.

[gymman]

Posted: 6/29/06 at 6:19pm

Kline is around 55, which is certainly old enough for Lear.

[sabrelady]

Posted: 6/30/06 at 3:08pm

After his doing Sir John a few years ago I have no qualms about Kleins ability to handle the gravitas of Lear.. This would be (WILL BE!)
a killer show!
Updated On: 7/1/06 at 03:08 PM

[Tirso de Molina]

Posted: 7/1/06 at 12:18am

The performance history of this play is full of far-from-elderly actors taking on Lear with great success. At the first performance of the play in 1606, Richard Burbage was 39 or 40. David Garrick first played the role in 1742 at age 25 -- and played his last Lear 34 years later, only a few years older than Kevin Kline is now. The great Edmund Kean first performed the role at age 31 (in 1820) and when Henry Irving directed himself as Lear in 1892, he was 54, almost the same age as Kline now. John Gielgud first played the part at age 25, returned to the play in 1940 when he was 35 (directed by Harley Granville-Barker!), and played it repeatedly throughout his career, ending with the BBC recording toward the end of his life. So Kline is not tackling the role too early in that context.

Also, it's quite arguable that Lear should not seem TOO elderly or decrepit when the play begins. This play is about (among many other things!) the catastrophic consequences of an anointed king selfishly and capriciously abandoning his divinely-bestowed duty to rule his country (according to the ideology of Shakespeare's day). If Lear is played by an actor so elderly that he can't help appearing old and feeble, then his decision to abandon his responsibilities as ruler seems sensible (given his incapacity) rather than self-serving. Lear must appear more than capable of ruling at the play's outset if the political logic of the work is to be preserved; it's his treatment at the hands of his daughters and the physical hardships he undergoes that reduce him to the confused, traumatized man he is at the end of the play -- though even then, remember, Lear is capable of killing Cordelia's murderer (a professional soldier) with his bare hands offstage!

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 7/1/06 at 12:41am

Especially after seeing his Falstaff, I'm truly expecting a first rate Lear from Kline. I'm reminded that Christopher Plummer was 75 and still in decent form when he tackled Lear a couple of seasons ago at LCT. However, while he certainly had his moments in the the role, he was hampered by a static and uninspired, somewhat provincial production by Jonathan Miller that had come from the Stratford Festival. Also, Plummer came across as perhaps too old and dottering from the very beginning and over the course of the long evening seemed to be lacking the necessary energy at times to truly be the dynamic force that the role requires. Frankly, Brent Carver's Edgar was far and away the most memorable thing about the entire production. Perhaps a decade or so ago (with a better production) Plummer would have been able to deliver a completely successful and satisfying Lear, but -- at least on the night that I saw him -- there were definitely moments when he seemed like a tired old man (though still a very great actor) and the burdens of the epic role weighed very heavily upon him.

I don't think Kline at this point in his life and career will have any of those sorts of issues when he takes on the role.

Updated On: 7/1/06 at 12:41 AM

[Noo]

Posted: 7/1/06 at 3:49pm

Johnathan Miller directed an excellent "King Lear" done for the old PBS "Shakespeare Plays" series with Michael Horden playing Lear. The New York Public Library has this series in its collection - so y'all can check it out - literally.

I get the feeling that an actor who could really pull Lear off is Tyne Daley - and I really do mean that!

[H.Higgins]

Posted: 7/1/06 at 5:59pm

Such good news! I imagine Kline will blow everyone away and this will probably be one for the books.

I'm also eagerly awaiting Ian McKellan's "King Lear" world tour taking off next year. He's going to be bloody brilliant.