King Lear productions?

[chardie2]

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I am currently working on my King Lear readings....

Can anyone tell me some techniques used by either:

• Peter Brook or
• Richard Eyre

To promote their readings in their productions??????????

Please help!

Thanks,
Charde.

[Living_Legend]

I dont think there is much in the way of techniques here, but it is an interview with Eyre.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/bookcase/lear/eyre.shtml

[konggo]

can someone me about some addiotional information about the bondi production Of KL...ie when produced who produced etc..


thanks

[Supra]

which brooks production r u doin, the stage one or the 1971 film?

[konggo]

Originally Posted by Supra

which brooks production r u doin, the stage one or the 1971 film?

yeah i gues the 1971 film one the things is we didnt cover nay production in class
and now i dont know wht to do :worried: :worried: so any help would be good

[ujuphleg]

The director who revolutionised readings was an English director named Peter Brook.

He based his reading on the ideas of a Polish critic called Jan Kott.

Kott fought against the Nazis during World War II. He saw a distinct parallel between the world in King Lear and the modern world. Both were worlds of tyranny, despair, cruelty and violence. He argued that Shakespeare was incredibly modern in his bleak view of humanity.

He saw King Lear on the place of a great staircase up which the characters tread to their doom. Each step was marked by murder and treachery. It didn’t matter if the character was good or bad, they would eventually be overwhelmed. They had little or no power in their lives but are swept away by the forces beyond which they can control (Note: nice link here between order and chaos and the ever turning wheel of fortune as a theme)

He saw the characters process as the inexorable (irreversible) and as a journey into hell.

Theme �* decay and fall of the world

Brook picked up these ideas in 1962 in a production by the Royal Shakespearean Company. It was an absurdist production with no hope or redemption what-so-ever.

He cut the following
�* Servants who help Gloucester after his eyes are plucked out
�* Edmund’s repenting lines to try and stop Cordelia’s death

He cut all notes of hope from the text.

Paul Schofield played Lear. He was absolutely cold and austere. The final image was of Edgar dragging away the corpses and a stage smeared in blood.

*** In the hostile universe Brook created, nature and the gods were indifferent to human suffering. (Note: PERFECT link here to Gloucester’s line: “As flies to wanton boys are we to th’ gods/They kill us for their sport. (I’d check the lines, I’m pretty sure they are correct, but double check))