Theater Online - New York Theater Reviews

“Have more than thou showest,
Speak less than thou knowest,
Lend less than thou owest.”

–William Shakespeare– (King Lear: Act I, Scene IV)

Currently playing at the Producers Club Theatres in Hell’s Kitchen, Balloon Heaven Productions’ performance of, “King Lear” attempts to reinterpret popular misconceptions about the ‘loving’ daughters of Lear and reduce the plot to its barest essentials- a story about a father and his daughters. Director, Julia Burtt Meltzer notes in the program, “Putting Lear’s downward spiral against a tapestry of a generation for whom sanity can be prescribed shows his demise in a different but no less tragic light. We can recognize him.” While a bold attempt by Ms. Meltzer, Shakespeare’s work comes across as confused, and in stark contrast to what she as the director had intended to do.

Set in a house of less than fifty seats, the audience naturally becomes part of the performance geographically but is removed from the play not by any ‘fourth wall’, but by neglect in both direction and choreography. Seats are placed onstage, yet audience members are cautioned about being careful not to get in the way of the actors (something that by now should have been anticipated). Players run on and off stage, often delivering asides or part of their monologues in the audience’s proverbial laps, yet blocking-wise several of these passages are ineffective and actually neglect to take the audience into account.

Continuing along these same lines, the costuming and overall design scheme for ‘Lear’ reflects the beginnings of an idea, but lacks the substance to bring these concepts to full development. Family lines are connected through ornamentation –a cross for one, feathers for another– and different relationships through color or wardrobe; neither however, are well executed. Lighting does add some effect to the piece, but it’s often a sudden or harsh transition, providing contrast but little in means of build or tone.

Acting is still another matter. With such a wide and diverse cast –each player with a myriad of experience– one would anticipate more variety and more strength from the play; again the performances were less than expected. Alyssa Borg, Sarah Sakaan, and Alexander Harvey stand alone for their performances [as Cordelia, the Earl of Kent, and King Lear, respectively], but even so, seem to have been caught in the baseness of this production. During small moments the audience bares witness to Borg’s strength as Cordelia, Sakaan’s talent as Kent, or Harvey’s ability to interpret the complexities of Lear’s character, but these are so shrouded by the other performances and spectacle around them that their efforts are difficult to isolate. The cast as a whole lacks cohesiveness and though they are all able to deliver their lines well, they forget that play is more than mere recitation (or one long continuous shout on this occasion).

Personally, I would have enjoyed seeing Meltzer’s production; I did not find it present in the performance I had witnessed. Direction of an ‘everyman’ King Lear could work extremely well: stripping the play to its subtleties and raising a mirror to our own likeness. Alas, like so many others, I believe Balloon Heaven Productions may have been too challenged by work and as a result lost sight of their vision. Whether it was a lack of direction, the stresses of tackling such a piece, or the shear cost of mounting a production, King Lear falls short of its target and is best left for some other time.