Talking Lear: Sam Mendes

The film and stage director talks to Mark Leipacher about his acclaimed production of King Lear, working with Simon Russell Beale and his career thus far.

Talking Lear: Stephen Boxer, Sam Troughton, Tom Brooke

Stephen Boxer (Gloucester), Sam Troughton (Edmund) and Tom Brooke (Edgar) talk to Mark Leipacher about the National Theatre's current production of King Lear directed by Sam Mendes.

Talking Lear: Adrian Scarborough, Stanley Townsend

Adrian Scarborough and Stanley Townsend talk to Fiona Mountford about Sam Mendes' 2014 production of King Lear.

Talking Lear: Kate Fleetwood, Anna Maxwell Martin, Olivia Vinall

Fiona Mountford talks to Kate Fleetwood, Anna Maxwell Martin and Olivia Vinall about playing the three daughters in Lear, being directed by Sam Mendes and performing in the Olivier theatre.

Talking Lear: Simon Russell Beale

Simon Russell Beale talks to Mark Leipacher about taking on the role of King Lear and reuniting with Sam Mendes.

King Lear: Nothing will come of nothing

"Oh, go ahead, just tell him you loved him!  It'd be so much easier.  You didn't have to mean it."

~Sam Mendes, on Cordelia vis-a-vis King Lear
Director

King Lear: Truth and perception

She can see through the lies.

~Olivia Vinall
Cordelia

King Lear: The blinding of Gloucester

It's not just about the blinding of one man.  It's about everything that's done in the name of political control.  It's about torture in general.

~Simon Russell Beale
King Lear

King Lear: The House of Gloucester

The play was a forging our relationship [i.e. with son Edgar], rather than a relationship that had fallen apart and then had to be rebuilt.

~Stephen Boxer
The Earl of Gloucester

King Lear (Act IV, scene vi)

GLOUCESTER

O ruin'd piece of nature! This great world
Shall so wear out to nought. Dost thou know me?

KING LEAR

I remember thine eyes well enough. Dost thou squiny
at me? No, do thy worst, blind Cupid! I'll not
love. Read thou this challenge; mark but the
penning of it.

GLOUCESTER

Were all the letters suns, I could not see one.

EDGAR

I would not take this from report; it is,
And my heart breaks at it.

KING LEAR

Read!

GLOUCESTER

What, with the case of eyes?

KING LEAR

O, ho, are you there with me? No eyes in your
head, nor no money in your purse? Your eyes are in
a heavy case, your purse in a light; yet you see how
this world goes.

GLOUCESTER

I see it feelingly.

KING LEAR

What, art mad? A man may see how this world goes
with no eyes. Look with thine ears: see how yond
justice rails upon yond simple thief. Hark, in
thine ear: change places; and, handy-dandy, which
is the justice, which is the thief? Thou hast seen
a farmer's dog bark at a beggar?

GLOUCESTER

Ay, sir.

KING LEAR

And the creature run from the cur? There thou
mightst behold the great image of authority: a
dog's obeyed in office.
Thou rascal beadle, hold thy bloody hand!
Why dost thou lash that whore? Strip thine own back;
Thou hotly lust'st to use her in that kind
For which thou whipp'st her. The usurer hangs the cozener.
Through tatter'd clothes small vices do appear;
Robes and furr'd gowns hide all. Plate sin with gold,
And the strong lance of justice hurtless breaks:
Arm it in rags, a pigmy's straw does pierce it.
None does offend, none, I say, none; I'll able 'em:
Take that of me, my friend, who have the power
To seal the accuser's lips. Get thee glass eyes;
And like a scurvy politician, seem
To see the things thou dost not. Now, now, now, now:
Pull off my boots: harder, harder: so.

EDGAR

O, matter and impertinency mix'd! Reason in madness!

KING LEAR

If thou wilt weep my fortunes, take my eyes.
I know thee well enough; thy name is Gloucester:
Thou must be patient; we came crying hither:
Thou know'st, the first time that we smell the air,
We wawl and cry. I will preach to thee: mark.

GLOUCESTER

Alack, alack the day!

King Lear, by William Shakespeare

King Lear: A violent world

So what you get is a world built on fear and danger.

~Sam Mendes

Director

King Lear: The language of madness

I think every actor who's played him must've thought, "Is he already suffering from some type of breakdown, and is he aware of it?"  The Lear that I play, I think, is aware.

~Simon Russell Beale
King Lear 

King Lear: The storm

On the one hand, it is easy to suppose that the storm is a metaphor for the madness that King Lear undergoes.  On the other hand, it is complicated to think how mankind and nature are intimately linked to one another, mirroring each other and elucidating each other.  For instance, is the storm an act of the gods against Lear for his hubris, and does he deserve the emotional and physical suffering that the storm instigates?

King Lear: His madness

I read the script, and thought this looks suspiciously like dementia.

~Simon Russell Beale

King Lear

King Lear: The Fool

King Lear is actually a terribly lonely figure without the Fool.

~Sam Mendes

Director

King Lear (Act III, scene vi)

Note:  This performance extract is actually from Act III, scene vi.

GLOUCESTER

Here is better than the open air; take it
thankfully. I will piece out the comfort with what
addition I can: I will not be long from you.

KENT

All the power of his wits have given way to his
impatience: the gods reward your kindness!

Exit GLOUCESTER

EDGAR

Frateretto calls me; and tells me
Nero is an angler in the lake of darkness.
Pray, innocent, and beware the foul fiend.

Fool

Prithee, nuncle, tell me whether a madman be a
gentleman or a yeoman?

KING LEAR

A king, a king!

Fool

No, he's a yeoman that has a gentleman to his son;
for he's a mad yeoman that sees his son a gentleman
before him.

KING LEAR

To have a thousand with red burning spits
Come hissing in upon 'em,--

EDGAR

The foul fiend bites my back.

Fool

He's mad that trusts in the tameness of a wolf, a
horse's health, a boy's love, or a whore's oath.

KING LEAR

It shall be done; I will arraign them straight.

To EDGAR: Come, sit thou here, most learned justicer;

To the Fool: Thou, sapient sir, sit here. Now, you she foxes!

EDGAR

Look, where he stands and glares!
Wantest thou eyes at trial, madam?
Come o'er the bourn, Bessy, to me,--

Fool

Her boat hath a leak,
And she must not speak
Why she dares not come over to thee.

EDGAR

The foul fiend haunts poor Tom in the voice of a
nightingale. Hopdance cries in Tom's belly for two
white herring. Croak not, black angel; I have no
food for thee.

KENT

How do you, sir? Stand you not so amazed:
Will you lie down and rest upon the cushions?

KING LEAR

I'll see their trial first. Bring in the evidence.

To EDGAR: Thou robed man of justice, take thy place;

To the Fool: And thou, his yoke-fellow of equity,
Bench by his side:

To KENT: you are o' the commission,
Sit you too.

EDGAR

Let us deal justly.
Sleepest or wakest thou, jolly shepherd?
Thy sheep be in the corn;
And for one blast of thy minikin mouth,
Thy sheep shall take no harm.
Pur! the cat is gray.

KING LEAR

Arraign her first; 'tis Goneril. I here take my
oath before this honourable assembly, she kicked the
poor king her father.

Fool

Come hither, mistress. Is your name Goneril?

KING LEAR

She cannot deny it.

Fool

Cry you mercy, I took you for a joint-stool.

KING LEAR

And here's another, whose warp'd looks proclaim
What store her heart is made on. Stop her there!
Arms, arms, sword, fire! Corruption in the place!
False justicer, why hast thou let her 'scape?

EDGAR

Bless thy five wits!

KENT

O pity! Sir, where is the patience now,
That thou so oft have boasted to retain?

EDGAR

[Aside] My tears begin to take his part so much,
They'll mar my counterfeiting.

KING LEAR

The little dogs and all, Tray, Blanch, and
Sweet-heart, see, they bark at me.

EDGAR

Tom will throw his head at them. Avaunt, you curs!
Be thy mouth or black or white,
Tooth that poisons if it bite;
Mastiff, grey-hound, mongrel grim,
Hound or spaniel, brach or lym,
Or bobtail tike or trundle-tail,
Tom will make them weep and wail:
For, with throwing thus my head,
Dogs leap the hatch, and all are fled.
Do de, de, de. Sessa! Come, march to wakes and
fairs and market-towns. Poor Tom, thy horn is dry.

KING LEAR

Then let them anatomize Regan; see what breeds
about her heart. Is there any cause in nature that
makes these hard hearts?

King Lear, by William Shakespeare

King Lear: The oldest daughter Goneril

Goneril really is the target of his fury.

Lear is absolutely horrible to Goneril, in a way that he doesn't speak to the other two.

King Lear: The middle daughter Regan

[Regan] uses sex to manipulate men, in a way that Goneril doesn't. She uses her femininity, and the power of sex even with her own father to get what she wants.

King Lear: The youngest daughter Cordelia

The stubbornness in him can also be the stubbornness in her.

King Lear (Act I, scene ii)

EDMUND

Thou, nature, art my goddess; to thy law
My services are bound. Wherefore should I
Stand in the plague of custom, and permit
The curiosity of nations to deprive me,
For that I am some twelve or fourteen moon-shines
Lag of a brother? Why bastard? wherefore base?
When my dimensions are as well compact,
My mind as generous, and my shape as true,
As honest madam's issue? Why brand they us
With base? with baseness? bastardy? base, base?
Who, in the lusty stealth of nature, take
More composition and fierce quality
Than doth, within a dull, stale, tired bed,
Go to the creating a whole tribe of fops,
Got 'tween asleep and wake? Well, then,
Legitimate Edgar, I must have your land:
Our father's love is to the bastard Edmund
As to the legitimate: fine word,--legitimate!
Well, my legitimate, if this letter speed,
And my invention thrive, Edmund the base
Shall top the legitimate. I grow; I prosper:
Now, gods, stand up for bastards!

King Lear (Act I, scene ii), by William Shakespeare

King Lear: Settings and locations

It's a pretty speedy spiral through the social strata.

King Lear: A dictator's regime

It's also deliberate that the supernumerary are all 6-foot, that there's a real sense of scale and power.  I want them to be physically threatening. 

King Lear: Goneril and Regan

If you imagine that [Goneril and Regan] start in very different positions on the graph, and they meet when they're finally kicking [King Lear] out.

King Lear: Cordelia

It's so important to show that [Cordelia's] someone who could lead an army, which leads back to the first scene - that makes you understand why she makes a stand: She's got that strength, she could kill someone.

King Lear: The knights

[The knights] have killed on his behalf, in his name.  So they're not a kind of benign set of people, blowing the froth off tankards of beer.  They're armed and they're dangerous.  

King Lear: The first scene

Really [the first scene is] the first domino, and it has to get knocked absolutely perfectly for everything else to follow and make sense.

King Lear (Act I, scene i)

KING LEAR

Meantime we shall express our darker purpose.
Give me the map there. Know that we have divided
In three our kingdom: and 'tis our fast intent
To shake all cares and business from our age;
Conferring them on younger strengths, while we
Unburthen'd crawl toward death. Our son of Cornwall,
And you, our no less loving son of Albany,
We have this hour a constant will to publish
Our daughters' several dowers, that future strife
May be prevented now. The princes, France and Burgundy,
Great rivals in our youngest daughter's love,
Long in our court have made their amorous sojourn,
And here are to be answer'd. Tell me, my daughters,--
Since now we will divest us both of rule,
Interest of territory, cares of state,--
Which of you shall we say doth love us most?
That we our largest bounty may extend
Where nature doth with merit challenge. Goneril,
Our eldest-born, speak first.

GONERIL

Sir, I love you more than words can wield the matter;
Dearer than eye-sight, space, and liberty;
Beyond what can be valued, rich or rare;
No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honour;
As much as child e'er loved, or father found;
A love that makes breath poor, and speech unable;
Beyond all manner of so much I love you.

CORDELIA

[Aside] What shall Cordelia do?
Love, and be silent.

LEAR

Of all these bounds, even from this line to this,
With shadowy forests and with champains rich'd,
With plenteous rivers and wide-skirted meads,
We make thee lady: to thine and Albany's issue
Be this perpetual. What says our second daughter,
Our dearest Regan, wife to Cornwall? Speak.

REGAN

Sir, I am made
Of the self-same metal that my sister is,
And prize me at her worth. In my true heart
I find she names my very deed of love;
Only she comes too short: that I profess
Myself an enemy to all other joys,
Which the most precious square of sense possesses;
And find I am alone felicitate
In your dear highness' love.

CORDELIA

[Aside] Then poor Cordelia!
And yet not so; since, I am sure, my love's
More richer than my tongue.

KING LEAR

To thee and thine hereditary ever
Remain this ample third of our fair kingdom;
No less in space, validity, and pleasure,
Than that conferr'd on Goneril. Now, our joy,
Although the last, not least; to whose young love
The vines of France and milk of Burgundy
Strive to be interess'd; what can you say to draw
A third more opulent than your sisters? Speak.

CORDELIA

Nothing, my lord.

KING LEAR

Nothing!

CORDELIA

Nothing.

KING LEAR

Nothing will come of nothing: speak again.

CORDELIA

Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave
My heart into my mouth: I love your majesty
According to my bond; nor more nor less.

KING LEAR

How, how, Cordelia! mend your speech a little,
Lest it may mar your fortunes.

CORDELIA

Good my lord,
You have begot me, bred me, loved me: I
Return those duties back as are right fit,
Obey you, love you, and most honour you.
Why have my sisters husbands, if they say
They love you all? Haply, when I shall wed,
That lord whose hand must take my plight shall carry
Half my love with him, half my care and duty:
Sure, I shall never marry like my sisters,
To love my father all.

KING LEAR

But goes thy heart with this?

CORDELIA

Ay, good my lord.

KING LEAR

So young, and so untender?

CORDELIA

So young, my lord, and true.

KING LEAR

Let it be so; thy truth, then, be thy dower:
For, by the sacred radiance of the sun,
The mysteries of Hecate, and the night;
By all the operation of the orbs
From whom we do exist, and cease to be;
Here I disclaim all my paternal care,
Propinquity and property of blood,
And as a stranger to my heart and me
Hold thee, from this, for ever. The barbarous Scythian,
Or he that makes his generation messes
To gorge his appetite, shall to my bosom
Be as well neighbour'd, pitied, and relieved,
As thou my sometime daughter.

KENT

Good my liege,--

KING LEAR

Peace, Kent!
Come not between the dragon and his wrath.
I loved her most, and thought to set my rest
On her kind nursery. Hence, and avoid my sight!

King Lear (Act I, scene i), by William Shakespeare

The Kings of English Literature

Nearly four centuries after his death, no writer has come close to matching Shakespeare's understanding of the world -- or his gift for dramatic poetry. It's not just kings and queens that he captured so uniquely in his transcendent verse. Shakespeare analysed the human condition, not just for Elizabethan England, but throughout the world and for eternity. Britain may not have matched the Continent for music or art but when it comes to literature, Shakespeare sees off all international rivals, whether it's in the spheres of comedy, tragedy or the sonnet. Even today you and I quote Shakespeare without knowing it: if you act more in sorrow than in anger, if you vanish into thin air, or have ever been tongue-tied, hoodwinked or slept not one wink, you're speaking the Bard's English. 

Milton, say his fans, works on an altogether different, higher plane. In Paradise Lost -- the best poem ever written in English -- Milton moved beyond the literary to address political, philosophical and religious questions in a way that still resounds strongly today. In his complex, intellectual poetry he drilled down deep into the eternal truths and sought to embody new scientific discovery in his work. 

His engagement with the issues of the day -- with the nature of knowledge, slavery, free will, love and creation -- was unparalleled. Despite complete blindness in middle age, he was the English republic's best known, most fervent apologist, and a key civil servant for Oliver Cromwell. In his other works, notably in Areopagitica, his attack on censorship, he showed himself as much a master of prose as poetry. He defines not only his age, but our own. 

To help you decide who should be crowned king of English letters we brought together advocates to make the case for each writer, and they called on a cast of leading actors to illustrate their arguments with readings from the works.

The Conspiracy Theories

William Shakespeare: The Conspiracy Theories

If these fabulous plays were written by another author, or authors, the main questions for me are: What is the evidence for these so-called conspiracy theories, and why were these plays attributed to Shakespeare in the first place?

There is so little known about the real William Shakespeare. It is hardly surprising therefore that plenty of theories about our most famous bard and his work have arisen. It was, after all, Mark Twain who said: “So far as anybody actually knows and can prove, Shakespeare of Stratford-on-Avon never wrote a play in his life.”

Not always as easily dismissed as Shakespeare champions would have you believe, here are the most widely known theories about the authorship of the plays.

Various authors 

In 1848 the American Joseph C Hart wrote a book putting forward the argument that the plays were written by several different authors. In 1856 Delia Bacon, another American, wrote an article to support this theory and attributed the authorship to a group of people who were overseen by Sir Francis Bacon and Sir Walter Raleigh. 

The Shakespeare authorship question is the argument that someone other than William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon wrote the works attributed to him. Anti-Stratfordians—a collective term for adherents of the various alternative-authorship theories—say that Shakespeare of Stratford was a front to shield the identity of the real author or authors, who for some reason did not want or could not accept public credit. Although the idea has attracted much public interest, all but a few Shakespeare scholars and literary historians consider it a fringe belief and for the most part acknowledge it only to rebut or disparage the claims. 

Shakespeare's authorship was first questioned in the middle of the 19th century, when adulation of Shakespeare as the greatest writer of all time had become widespread. Shakespeare's biography, particularly his humble origins and obscure life, seemed incompatible with his poetic eminence and his reputation for genius, arousing suspicion that Shakespeare might not have written the works attributed to him. The controversy has since spawned a vast body of literature, and 80 authorship candidates have been proposed, the most popular being Sir Francis Bacon, Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, Christopher Marlowe, and William Stanley, 6th Earl of Derby. 

Supporters of alternative candidates argue that theirs is the more plausible author, and that William Shakespeare lacked the education, aristocratic sensibility, or familiarity with the royal court that they say is apparent in the works. Those Shakespeare scholars who have responded to such claims hold that biographical interpretations of literature are unreliable in attributing authorship, and that the convergence of documentary evidence used to support Shakespeare's authorship—title pages, testimony by other contemporary poets and historians, and official records—is the same used for all other authorial attributions of his era. No such direct evidence exists for any other candidate, and Shakespeare's authorship was not questioned during his lifetime or for centuries after his death. 

Despite the scholarly consensus, a relatively small but highly visible and diverse assortment of supporters, including prominent public figures, have questioned the conventional attribution. They work for acknowledgment of the authorship question as a legitimate field of scholarly inquiry and for acceptance of one or another of the various authorship candidates.

 Note: Click on the link in the above caption to view the video.

The Secret Life of a Tudor Woman

In Shakespeare’s Mother: The Secret Life of a Tudor Woman, Michael Wood tells the extraordinary story of an ordinary woman in a time of revolution. Born under Henry VIII, Mary Arden is the daughter of a Warwickshire farmer, but she marries into a new life in the rising Tudor middle class in Stratford upon Avon. There she has eight children, three of whom die young. Her husband becomes mayor but is bankrupted by his shady business dealings. Faced with financial ruin, religious persecution, and power politics, the family is the glue that keeps them together until they are rescued by Mary’s successful eldest son – William Shakespeare! 

Using local documents and government archives, wills and inventories, and even a report from an Elizabethan informer, Michael Wood reconstructs Mary’s story: the youngest of eight sisters, who married an illiterate but ambitious glover John Shakespeare. John rose in the world to become a well-off middle class entrepreneur, and finally mayor of Stratford, before his shady business activities brought their world crashing down and bankrupted the family. It would be Mary’s eldest son who restored the family’s fortunes with the money from his box office hits. 

The film also looks at women’s work, and at the role a Tudor mother played in the raising and education of her children. Could she read and write? Did she teach her kids to read? What part might she have had in shaping her son’s creative imagination? Mary’s story is dramatic, with its tales of bankruptcy, family feuds, political plots and religious persecution. It's the glittering Tudor world viewed from below, from a small provincial town: a window onto an age of fantastic wealth, riches and cultural achievement, through whose storms Mary steered her family, in the process raising the world’s most famous poet.

Romeo and Juliet (1968) {2}

Romeo (Leonard Whiting) romances Juliet (Olivia Hussey) at her family's masquerade ball.

Director Franco Zeffirelli's 1968 version of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet was touted at the time of its release (successfully, if the box-office receipts are any indication), as something of a "youth trip" movie. This is because Zeffirelli broke the long-standing tradition of casting over-aged, sometimes grey-haired players in the title roles. Seventeen-year-old Leonard Whiting plays Romeo, with 15-year-old Olivia Hussey as Juliet. The youthfulness and inexperience of the leading players works beautifully in the more passionate sequences (some of these breaking further ground by being played in the nude). Among the younger players are Michael York as Tybalt and John McEnery as Mercutio. The duel between Romeo and Tybalt starts out as a harmless, frat-boy exchange of insults, then escalates into tragedy before any of the participants are fully aware of what has happened. Photographed by Pasqualino DeSantis on various locations in Italy, Romeo and Juliet was one of the most profitable film adaptations of Shakespeare ever produced. Its most lasting legacy is its popular main theme music, composed by Nino Rota.

Romeo and Juliet (1968) {1}

At the Capulet masquerade ball, Romeo (Leonard Whiting) falls in love with Juliet (Olivia Hussey) at first sight.

Director Franco Zeffirelli's 1968 version of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet was touted at the time of its release (successfully, if the box-office receipts are any indication), as something of a "youth trip" movie. This is because Zeffirelli broke the long-standing tradition of casting over-aged, sometimes grey-haired players in the title roles. Seventeen-year-old Leonard Whiting plays Romeo, with 15-year-old Olivia Hussey as Juliet. The youthfulness and inexperience of the leading players works beautifully in the more passionate sequences (some of these breaking further ground by being played in the nude). Among the younger players are Michael York as Tybalt and John McEnery as Mercutio. The duel between Romeo and Tybalt starts out as a harmless, frat-boy exchange of insults, then escalates into tragedy before any of the participants are fully aware of what has happened. Photographed by Pasqualino DeSantis on various locations in Italy, Romeo and Juliet was one of the most profitable film adaptations of Shakespeare ever produced. Its most lasting legacy is its popular main theme music, composed by Nino Rota.

Rose Study for Juliet {8}

Rose Study for Juliet {8} by Ron Villejo

Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I'll no longer be a Capulet.

Romeo and Juliet (Act II, scene ii)

Rose Study for Juliet {7}

Rose Study for Juliet {7} by Ron Villejo

Romeo, doff thy name,
And for that name which is no part of thee
Take all myself.

Romeo and Juliet (Act II, scene ii)

Rose Study for Juliet {6}

Rose Study for Juliet {6} by Ron Villejo

So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title.

Romeo and Juliet (Act II, scene ii)

Rose Study for Juliet {5}

Rose Study for Juliet {5} by Ron Villejo

Deny thy father and refuse thy name;
... O, be some other name!


Romeo and Juliet (Act II, scene ii)