Less is more for Miller

King Lear, Lowry, Salford to Saturday

IF director Jonathan Miller ever had a one-line summary of his style, it might be: choose a theme, stick to it no matter how outlandish, then make sure everyone speaks up clearly.

That much is definitely in evidence in this Northern Broadsides’ version of the great Shakespeare drama of a king and his courtiers, politics, and chickens coming home to roost, big time.

Except here “big time”, not so much. Miller always had a reputation for big ideas and scale, but perhaps now he is 80, or simply perhaps because this is Broadsides, and Barrie Rutter’s company isn’t made of money, this Lear is mostly small family drama, played on a simple stage with a minimal set and fairly plain costumes.

There is still a cast of 15, but no sign of Lear’s band of travelling knights, for example; the kingdom-division scene is a remarkably intimate affair, and the storm scene is mostly sound and lighting effects.

Not that the play needs much elaboration, thanks to the richness of its drama and strangeness of some of its defining moments and storylines.

Even more so here because Miller, who has directed it seven times, also lays claim to the play being one of Shakespeare’s subtler comedies and takes every opportunity to take small laughs and play down tragedy, in so doing making the real tragedies of the evening all the more devastating.

But Miller doesn’t go so far as making the Fool foolish: the sanest man on the stage, played strongly here by Fine Time Fontayne, has a sharp tongue but is decidedly the king’s better conscience rather than his entertainment.

Over two hours and 40 minutes — which actually seems shorter — this clearly-wrought, honestly presented Lear offers us characters as real, avaricious bastards; kind and fair-minded, honest and quietly heroic, all made even more real by Broadsides’ trademark regional accents.

At the evening’s head is Barrie Rutter as a very direct, demanding Lear, a man who starts out vain and arrogant and goes through the mill to discover what love really is. Equally good is John Branwell as the much-put-upon Gloucester, his blinding thankfully taking place in semi-darkness.

Catherine Kinsella offers a simple, down to earth Cordelia while Helen Sheals is a Goneril determined to get her own back on her hated father.


Twitter: @spaulg42