Review: A sharp ‘King Lear’ at Redtwist Theatre raises issues of aging, greed and power

Jul. 9--For the past few years, researchers and advocates have been raising alarm bells about the coming crisis in eldercare as the Baby Boomers join the oldest Americans -- only 2% of whom, according to a recent Time Magazine article, carry insurance policies for long-term care.

Assisted-living facilities weren't a thing in William Shakespeare's time -- but of all the many angles one can use to approach "King Lear," the question that might resonate the most for a contemporary audience is "What do we owe to our elderly?" Toss in sibling rivalry, good old-fashioned greed, and a world where the very weather itself seems to reflect the dark terrors of an aging and infirm mind, and it's always going to be powerful stuff.

Steve Scott's staging of "King Lear" for Redtwist Theatre takes a minimalist approach, but it yields some sharp-as-a-serpent's-tooth reflections on the intractability of powerful men who want all the perquisites of rank, with none of the duties. (There are corner offices and board rooms throughout America where such men still hold sway -- or try to.) Brian Parry's Lear is both acidic and insinuating in the opening scene, where he demands flattery of his three daughters in order to determine who should win the largest share of his kingdom. But giving up the crown doesn't mean he wants to give up the power to command -- no matter how capricious his demands may be.

That's a hugely relatable situation for anyone who has had an elderly parent move in with them, or who has had to assume responsibility for their day-to-day care. How do you avoid infantilizing the person who raised you from infancy? Can you let go of old grievances and even fresher wounds and provide your parents with what they need, without making them feel like a burden? No matter how old we get, none of us likes to admit that we're dependent on others for basic needs.

Lear's great sin -- and it's one any of us might share at any given time -- is that he can't recognize that he's not the man (or king) he once was. He sees no reason why the daughters he's favored -- Goneril (Jacqueline Grandt) and Regan (KC Karen Hill) -- shouldn't be happy to put up with him and just a few (OK, a hundred) of his favorite knights and squires hanging out in their homes and ordering their servants around.

His counterpart, the Earl of Gloucester (Darren Jones), also fails to look beyond the surface of his own family's world and is taken in by a plot hatched by Edmund (Mark West), his "natural" (or illegitimate) son that results in the banishment of Gloucester's heir, Edgar (Robert Hunter Bry).

It feels significant that Scott has cast the roles of Kent and the Fool -- the two figures from Lear's court who tell him the truth but love him anyway -- with women. Liz Cloud's Fool tries to use riddles and irony to get through to the old man, to little avail. (The fate of the character, who disappears midway through the play, remains one of Shakespeare's tantalizing mysteries.) Cameron Feagin is terrific here as Kent, who has been banished along with Lear's forthright youngest daughter, Cordelia (Kayla Raelle Holder) but disguises herself as a working-class man in order to be close to him in his hour of need. Before the banishment, she pleads with him to understand that Cordelia's refusal to flatter actually speaks well of her love for her father. "See better, Lear," Kent tells him.

But seeing better comes too late for nearly everyone in this tragedy, which often feels like the closest to pure nihilism Shakespeare ever got. Gloucester's eyes are plucked out by Regan's hot-tempered husband, Cornwall (Scott Buechler). The elder sisters' united front falls apart under the temptations of property and their mutual lust for West's scheming Edmund.

Set designer Nicholas James Schwartz has covered the walls surrounding the small playing area with white sheets, covered at the bottom by splashes of blue paint. It suggests a rising tide preparing to drown everyone in its wake. The sheets are torn down one by one over the course of the show, revealing tantalizing glimpses of what might be a relief map of Lear's kingdom underneath. Instead, it ultimately adds up to bare branches of an impenetrable forest, with no relief in sight.

Scott hasn't crafted a production stuffed with conceptual flourishes here. But his cast pays careful attention to the nuances of the text, and the pacing creates a suitable inexorable sense of dread -- the wheel is in motion and, as Edmund notes near the end, it will "come full circle." Whether we try to wrest it from the axle, throw barriers in front of it -- or simply deny it's moving at all -- the wheel of fate and life grinds ever forward. Ripeness is all. And we're all going to reach our natural sell-by date before we're ready to be plucked off the shelf and tossed in the dumpster.

Kerry Reid is a freelance critic.

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Review: "King Lear" (3 stars)

When: Through Aug. 4

Where: Redtwist Theatre, 1044 W. Bryn Mawr Ave.

Running time: 2 hours, 50 minutes

Tickets: $35-$40 at 773-728-7529 or redtwist.org

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