Arts and Entertainment
King Lear shakes up the Glen
By Lily Gillespie '12, Senior Editor
September 29, 2011
On a sunny, warm, late-September day, the Root Glen proved to be the perfect location for the staging of Shakespeare’s King Lear. Performed by the student group Shakespeare in the Glen, the play was co-directed by Peter Oliver ’12 and Mike Bickal ’12.
One of the Bard’s most well-regarded tragedies, the play tells the story of King Lear, an aging English monarch who decides to retire and bequeath his kingdom to whichever of his three daughters best demonstrates her admiration, love and obedience to her father.
The first two daughters, Regan and Goneril, played by Jordyn Taylor ’12 and Alex Dorer ’13, respectively, provide their father with the appropriate amount of praise. Cordelia, played by Ali Crivelli ’14, however, refuses to follow the example of her sisters, so Lear banishes her in a fit a rage, an action that haunts him the rest of the play.
The Root Glen was an integral element of the performance, enhancing the experience for the audience. The environment served as a natural prop for the actors, including John Whitney ’12, in the role of Edmund, whose opening lines were delivered atop a rock wall as he perched on the limbs of one of the overhanging trees. Jim Anesta ’14, in the role of Edgar (Poor Tom), actually suspended himself from a tree during one scene and rolled in the dirt on multiple occasions to convey his character’s madness.
One of the many unique features of this particular setting was the ability to see the actors milling about the Glen even when they had exited the “stage,” which lent a realistic feeling to the production: as if we were watching the real court rather than having our focus confined to the stage as in a more traditional theater.
The title role of King Lear was assumed by three seniors, Shayna Schmidt, Peter Oliver and Jonathan Higginbotham, all of whom brought a different dimension to the role. Schmidt, the first itineration, portrayed the aging king, a hunched drunkard whose anger, pride and imperious nature lead him to banish his youngest daughter from the kingdom in a rage. Schmidt convincingly played the angry patriarch, especially when wishing great evil upon the shunned Cordelia.
Oliver provided the second version of Lear as he begins his descent into madness; Oliver seemed well-suited to this particular stage in Lear’s development as a character for he was able to successfully capture the flailings and incoherent mumblings often associated with the insane. Oliver’s willingness to embrace the physical nature of the role also lent itself to creating an image of King Lear as a madman, falling on the ground and doing somersaults.
The third and final incarnation of the king was performed by Higginbotham, whose entrance onto the scene featured him emerging from the Root Glen bedecked with a flower crown and twigs in his pocket. The phase of Lear in the grips of madness was well-played, yet Higginbotham also captured the king’s emergence from madness and his incredible remorse at having banished a beloved daughter. Higginbotham was eloquent in this role, conveying sincere emotion, particularly when Lear carries the dead Cordelia onstage and is so stricken with grief that he himself dies. Higginbotham delivered a performance rife with emotional intensity yet free of the over-dramatized hysterics on which a less experienced actor may have relied.
Overall, it was a well-done performance that displayed the talents, both directorial and acting, of those involved. Perhaps one of Shakespeare’s most challenging plays, the actors handled the material in a creative and skilled manner, intelligently conveying the depth of emotion felt by Shakespeare’s conflicted characters.