The Madness of the King

Abstract

National Theatre, London Until 28 May 2014 King Lear is not for the fainthearted, either in duration or in content. Most productions, including this impressively-staged show at the National Theatre, London, run for about three and half hours. The play contains treason and murder, adultery, serious sibling rivalry, civil war, extreme weather and, of course, madness. The director, Sam Mendes, has set the action in a totalitarian state, with a lot of black uniforms and black leather, and added in a particularly grisly use of the corkscrew in ophthalmic surgery. The play has quite a soundtrack too — a menacing rumbling from the wings accompanies a solar eclipse before it …