King Lear Critical Analysis

George Bernard Shaw once wrote, "No man will ever write a better tragedy than Lear." “King Lear” is one of the most renown Shakespearean plays and definitely one of his most searing tragedies. It has been adapted to Lebanese Arabic for the first time while keeping its agonizing tragic end. It is performed in “Masrah el Madina” in Hamra during December. Co-directed by Sahar Assaf and Rachel Valentine Smith and produced by Robert Myers, “King Lear” revolves around the ill-fated decision of an old king to abdicate and divide his realm among his three daughters. He disowns his sincere daughter that gave him an honest non flattering answer. The other two end up by expelling the King when the latter was no longer in power. The play depicts themes

In order to grab the audience attention, the directors had to alter the tempo of the play. I think that she did a fair job in doing so. Although, sometimes a monotone scene killed the vibe of the play, the directing minimized this aspect by creating abrupt changes of tempo in order to orchestrate a change in mood. Most notable, was the scene where the King was denied by Goneril and Regan and suddenly a storm appeared. The characters unexpectedly started to act as they were fighting the heavy winds by performing eerie choreography on the ground accompanied by high sound effects. Meanwhile, Roger Assaf stood in the middle of the scene where spotlight was pointing at

The relevant aesthetic aspect, the choice of the color palette and the selection of the props are worth mentioning. First, the designers relied on simple costumes that were in perfect accordance with the minimalistic stage design. The costumes were modest and accurately related to the Middle Age era of the Shakespearean play. As for the color palette of the clothes, the choice was of paramount importance and it gave hints for the audience to discern between the different social classes. The noble people were associated with vivid colors like the Burgundy Color (Goneril dress), Royal Blue (Duke of Burgundy) and Pink (King of France), as for the soldiers, the servants, the fool and the attendants were associated with an autumn-like palette ranging from Kaki to Beige and other analogous colors. Finally, the use of accessories conveyed the message with more credibility. The fool always had a stick which gave him a trickster character, as for the soldiers, they always carried a