Writer Jasper Rees headlines his article with
Simon Russell Beale interview: Why I shaved my head for Lear. Since I started to shave my head a handful of months ago, I was curious about the
why:
Nowadays, with a full white beard and cropped silver hair, he looks comfortably grizzled enough to be handing over his kingdom to his progeny.
The crop was [Director Sam] Mendes’s request. “The two nasty characters I’ve done with Sam – Richard III and Iago – for both of them I shaved my head. The first thing he said to me as Lear was, 'Can you shave your head because it makes you feel more of a brute?’”
Beale was terrific as the
avoirdupois in the two Henry IV plays, Mendes among the producers of
The Hollow Crown. Clearly hirsuteness better suited his characterization of Falstaff.
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| a selfie, onboard a flight from Chicago to London, recently |
As for me, the reasons why I shaved my head are positively plebeian. I wanted to save money, and avoid inconvenient trips and waits at Great Clips. Besides, I am bald on top anyway. In any event, I don't imagine that a King Lear role is in the offing for me.
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