They went heavy on the pageantry, highlighting the sense of pre-Christian times. For example, Lear is carried on stage ceremoniously aloft in a large glass box. He is wearing ostentatiously bulky furs, which set him apart from the others. Two of his courtiers carry large gilded disks on poles, reminiscent of the moon and sun (although unexplained). Another courtier holds a crown out sort of near or above Cordelia's head. Every time Lear curses someone, there is a portentous pause and low percussive sounds punctuate his speech. When he curses Cordelia and Kent in open court, everyone turns to him, bowing their heads and freezing, as if in terror of his wrath, suggesting his word is absolute.
They tried to humanize the villains, which is certainly supported by the text to some extent. Edmund does, indeed, suffer through his father's cavalier and jocular description of his conception, and it is surely not the first time. It works for us to see his reaction (even though it will never justify his amoral ambitions). But did Edgar, the elder, have to be a man-child who is kicking a ball around with friends indoors? I think it's effective to show Goneril's and Regan's purported concerns ambiguously supported in the beginning; we should not be entirely sure if they were mostly pretextual ab initio. But here, Goneril is acutely distressed, genuinely anguished, by her father's harsh words and his abusive knights; I think this goes too far.
The glass box was an interesting device, but they pulled it out many times, to diminishing returns. Having Gloucester blinded inside the box provided a sense of distance which left the scene merely gory, rather than heart-wrenching. (I was also a little disappointed in the cursory portrayal of First Servant, but that's probably not RSC's fault.*)
I liked Cordelia, and I liked their race-conscious casting. It gave a general impression of race-blindness, but I think it was actually carefully thought out. In the opening scene you have white-Gloucester, white-Kent and black-Edmund, leaving the audience to wonder about the role of race here. (Is there an implication about Edmund's mother's socio-economic class? Will race be aligned with villainy?) Then Lear et al. enter. The various courtiers are white and black. Lear and his two wicked elder daughters are white; Cordelia is black. Gloucester and his decent elder son are white; Edmund is black. Cordelia's suitors are black, and Regan's husband is white, but Goneril has married across racial lines and both sisters go gaga for Edmund. So overall, there is no clear alignment of virtue, villainy, or victimhood along racial lines:
I enjoyed the piece overall, but it really had only one truly heart-breaking moment. It comes at the very end, when Albany urges Edgar and Kent to rule the kingdom jointly, and Kent replies:
I have a journey, sir, shortly to go;His delivery of these lines was understated and devastating.
My master calls me, I must not say no.
FN* “In King Lear (III:vii) there is a man who is such a minor character that Shakespeare has not given him even a name: he is merely 'First Servant.' All the characters around him – Regan, Cornwall, and Edmund – have fine long-term plans. They think they know how the story is going to end, and they are quite wrong. The servant has no such delusions. He has no notion how the play is going to go. But he understands the present scene. He sees an abomination (the blinding of old Gloucester) taking place. He will not stand it. His sword is out and pointed at his master’s breast in a moment: then Regan stabs him dead from behind. That is his whole part: eight lines all told. But if it were real life and not a play, that is the part it would be best to have acted.”
– C.S. Lewis, “The World’s Last Night” in The World's Last Night and Other Essays, San Diego, New York, and London: Harcourt, Inc., 1987, at 104-105.
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