Oh Dear King Lear

The Mr and I have just returned from a much anticipated London trip. I booked tickets to the Kenneth Branagh production of King Lear at The Wyndham, a few months ago, and indeed had been on a waiting list to ensure I would know exactly when the tickets went on sale. Much excitement!! It was a two hour performance, with no interval, which I thought was strange, but in hindsight perhaps it was a tactic to prevent folk leaving early, surely not? Before the start I was queuing for the lavatory, like you do, and chatting to a nice woman behind me who told me the play had terrible reviews. I remember thinking that anything with dear Kenneth in and with tickets at an eye watering £300+ for two MUST be a tour de force. Oh oh how wrong could I be. Kenneth Branagh himself had a decent stab at the part, but oh my, the rest of the cast were SO wooden and delivered an overly shouty interpretation of the story. A cast of maybe 15 ran onto the stage and off again continuously at great pace, hither and thither shouting, fighting most times and banging large sticks on the stage. The costumes were a tragedy in themselves, an earthy muted palette with a stone age man meets women in linen vibe. It was impossible to discern who were the royal party and who were the surfs, coupled with some actors playing different roles it was a story line which I was unable to follow. The set was made up of the same palette as the costumes and didn't change throughout the performance, apart from a few images projected on to it. The overall visual effect was totally unstimulating, lacklustre and frankly boring. It felt like a school production. My advice is DO NOT GO.

By contrast The Frans Hals exhibtion at The National was completely beguiling. All portraits of course. The Mr and I wandered around the eight or so small galleries almost intoxicated with the skill and beauty of his work. A 17th century contemporary of Hals, Theodorus Schrevelius said that Hals works "reflected such power and life, that the painter seems to challenge nature with his brush". I couldn't agree more.