Review of King Lear at MetroTech

-full disclosure I saw this production a week ago and I was just procrastinating on writing this for a full week

-normally I’d talk about all the things that changed in the production from the original text, but this was Happy Ending King Lear (ie That One Version where Edgar and Cordelia are cannonly A Thing), so that whole thing was changed anyway. Like. France doesn’t exist bc Cordelia and Edgar are A Thing from the start, and so the War becomes a civil war or something. Because France doesn’t exist.

-anyway. Moving on from there.

-both Kent’s disguise and Edgar’s 2nd or 3rd disguise (the one he fights Edmund in) are literally just A Hat. And I 100% approve of that costume choice.

-they gave The Wheel line to Albany after Edmund died instead of to Edmund. Which I 100% DO NOT APPROVE OF

-Cordelia I’m so sorry but I hated your performance so much

- Cordelia would. not. stop. smiling.

-even while Lear was banishing her

-she said all her lines with this obnoxious self-righteousness that made her the most unlikeable character

-kinda reminded me of that lady from Enchanted. The main character. Whatever her name was.

-except more annoying.

-only good thing about her was that she got to fight in the battle at the end. She had a sword.

-onto Regan

-I absolutely loved her actress. I think her actress was my favorite of the 3 Lear sisters

-EXCEPT they decided to have Regan and Edmund be A Thing while Cornwall was still alive. Which. No. I don’t like that-no one likes that- why would they do that

-i do ship Regan and Edmund but ONLY after Cornwall is dead

-anyway I liked Goneril in the MetroTech production better than Goneril in the New Spruce Theater production. Because NST Goneril was near-crying the whole time, while MT Goneril was ready to punch someone. If MT Goneril and Regan (both of which where ready to punch someone) and NST Cordelia (who actually did punch someone) would all be in the same production, I’d definitely be able to see the family resemblance.

-I wanna see a production of King Lear where all the Lear sisters all have 0 tolerance for stupidity and are ready and willing to beat someone up if they have to

-Oswald was played the way I’d expect Malvolio to be played. It was like Malvolio was hired to be Goneril’s servant instead of Olivia’s. I have no other way to describe the vibes I was getting from this Oswald

-Edgar was annoying, but idk if that was just because of his whole Thing with Cordelia or because he actually was annoying

-Lear and Gloucester were both forgettable. I don’t remember a thing they did that stood out to me

-unfortunately Albany and Cornwall were also just as forgettable

-UNFORTUNATELY Edmund was also just as forgettable

-I think Cornwall nearly stepped on my hand at some point, which is the only thing I remember him doing (the way this production worked is you sit on the ground and the “stage” is the ground in front of you. And the actors kinda walk over/around you as they enter/exit the “stage”)

-and. That’s it.