Even without our reading scenic designer Danila Korogodsky’s note in the playbill, the central metaphor for this King Lear becomes quickly apparent. The stage is littered with rocks which will be hurled, scattered, and struck together to indicate emotional agitation. And with pailfuls of sand to be strewn, sifted, stroked and skidded upon during the course of the play’s action. Likewise emphasizing the—uh, concrete aspects of Shakespeare’s fable are neutral-toned costumes, constructed from natural fabrics. And since Shira Piven is director of this production, characters express themselves vocally via snuffles, hisses and group exhalations, and physically via scrabbling through, wallowing in and anointing themselves with the earthy set decoration.
This approach makes for a number of visually and aurally interesting motifs: to illustrate the parceling of his kingdom, Lear (elevated above his subjects on foot-high cothurni) trickles handfuls of sand on the floor in the presence of his courtiers. The Earl of Kent’s confinement in the Stocks is represented by his lying supine with rocks weighing him down. The spectacular mid-plot thunderstorm employs flying sand and rocks, as well as a tub of water with whose contents actors splash themselves.
But even the most expertly realized Production Concept comes at a price. With so many imaginative distractions, audiences not familiarized with the narrative are unlikely to derive much comprehension from the text. This is no fault of the cast—as the deluded monarch himself, Byrne Piven, celebrating his 50th anniversary as an actor, does full justice to his coveted role. He is ably flanked by Bernard Beck’s avuncular Gloucester, F. David Roth’s agile Fool, and Brooks Darrah’s stentorian Kent. Marcia Reinhard and Gita Tanner make Goneril and Regan a pair of deliciously greedy and horny villainesses, while Joanne Underwood renders Cordelia properly passive.
It can be argued that ponderosity is an inevitable feature of this rarely performed classic. But at a running time of three hours, this Piven Theatre production emerges as an artistic experiment more intriguing than enjoyable.