Musing Mends The Soul: King Lear - Theatre Royal Glasgow, Derek Jacobi

Who is it that can tell me who I am?"

An ageing monarch. A kingdom divided. A child's love rejected. As Lear's world descends into chaos, all that he once believed is brought into question. One of the greatest works in western literature, King Lear explores the very nature of human existence: love and duty, power and loss, good and evil.

Derek Jacobi as King Lear

I'm going to see The Donmar Warehouse production of King Lear today. The first night reviews from the original production were varied.

Charles Spencer in the Telegraph - “Michael Grandage’s production proves outstanding, the finest and most searching Lear I have ever seen, and it often achieves a shattering power. But the director and his tremendous company also see the play steadily and see it whole. They capture the great epic sweep of the tragedy, but they are also alert to the detail in the text. Almost every performance seems fresh-minted and psychologically persuasive. I didn’t spot a single moment of hollow bluster.”

Justine Mitchell and Gina McKee and above Derek Jacobi and Pippa Bennet-Warner

Ron Cook

Michael Headley
“Michael Coveney in The Independent – “He is the most exacting and pernickety of actors, Derek Jacobi, which means that this long-awaited Lear will never open the floodgates. There’s something guarded and “worked out” about it, but it is most beautifully spoken and detailed. It’s also terribly polite.”