“An excellent idea – but not much more”
On its surface, the idea to adapt the work of Shakespear into a dialogue-less mime, is a brilliant one. The story of King Lear is one that has been told thousands of times in thousands of ways, which surely makes adapting it again a daunting undertaking. Ramesh Meyyappan rises to this challenge by reducing the story all the way down to its bare essentials – which may work better in concept than in practice.
Lear is an adaptation more of the themes and spirit of the original play rather than the actual events of the text. It plays out as a series of mimed situations as the titular Lear returns from war and struggles to connect with his family again. Repeatedly Lear breaks down and lashes out and must be comforted by the three women around him. Though this cycle is at one point broken by a long sequence where Lear puts on what I can only describe as a comedy hat, which ends up being a moment of delightful respite from the usual repeating motif.
At its best this continual simulacra of a life plays out like a strange trap Lear has found himself caught in. Probably the best moments of the play for me are the few moments when Lear seems to look around and realise that this isn’t his life at all, it’s just a surreal play. When Ramesh Meyyappan steps to the front of the stage to look into the audience with a confused bewilderment he has an excellent quality of making you think that he’s looking at you, personally. Lear’s sympathy is expertly created in these moments, as you look down at this broken man and know that you’re unable to help him get out.
Unfortunately, after an hour of this, it begins to ring hollow. Though the set-ups get more dramatic and black confetti covers more of the stage, it doesn’t quite manage to ever elicit much more feeling. After the first three or four times you see Lear go from being with his family to cowering on the floor and then finally, once again, to violence, you don’t really feel a need to see it the next five or six times. It never quite gets so bad that it becomes boring but it does start to feel repetitive.
It’s worth noting that the repetitiveness of Lear is clearly a feature rather than a bug. And though I can see what it’s saying thematically, I’m not so sure that it’s making an interesting enough point to warrant the hit to the watchability.
Amongst this the ‘comedy hat’ segment begins to feel like an odd kind of masterpiece. It’s one of the few parts of the play that actually sticks out towards the end because it doesn’t seem to fit with everything going on around it. The music especially is never better than in this section – quickly switching between tones and drifting between funny and disturbing with perfect awareness. Sadly it comes just slightly too early for it to truly break up the repetitive nature of Lear.