• Best of luck to the class of 2024 for their HSC exams. You got this!
    Let us know your thoughts on the HSC exams here
  • YOU can help the next generation of students in the community!
    Share your trial papers and notes on our Notes & Resources page
MedVision ad

King Lear productions? (1 Viewer)

chardie2

Member
Joined
Mar 1, 2004
Messages
97
Location
Sydney.
I am currently working on my King Lear readings....

Can anyone tell me some techniques used by either:

  • Peter Brook or
  • Richard Eyre

To promote their readings in their productions??????????

Please help!

Thanks,
Charde.
 

konggo

Member
Joined
Apr 30, 2004
Messages
95
Location
North Shore
Gender
Male
HSC
2004
help pls!!!

can someone me about some addiotional information about the bondi production Of KL...ie when produced who produced etc..


thanks
 

Supra

secksy beast
Joined
Sep 27, 2003
Messages
2,399
Location
On Top.
Gender
Male
HSC
2004
which brooks production r u doin, the stage one or the 1971 film?
 

konggo

Member
Joined
Apr 30, 2004
Messages
95
Location
North Shore
Gender
Male
HSC
2004
wow

Supra said:
which brooks production r u doin, the stage one or the 1971 film?
yeah i gues the 1971 film one the things is we didnt cover nay production in class
:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: and now i dont know wht to do :worried: :worried: so any help would be good
 

ujuphleg

oo-joo-fleg
Joined
Jan 2, 2004
Messages
3,040
Location
Sydney
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
2004
The director who revolutionised readings was an English director named Peter Brook.

He based his reading on the ideas of a Polish critic called Jan Kott.

Kott fought against the Nazis during World War II. He saw a distinct parallel between the world in King Lear and the modern world. Both were worlds of tyranny, despair, cruelty and violence. He argued that Shakespeare was incredibly modern in his bleak view of humanity.

He saw King Lear on the place of a great staircase up which the characters tread to their doom. Each step was marked by murder and treachery. It didn’t matter if the character was good or bad, they would eventually be overwhelmed. They had little or no power in their lives but are swept away by the forces beyond which they can control (Note: nice link here between order and chaos and the ever turning wheel of fortune as a theme)

He saw the characters process as the inexorable (irreversible) and as a journey into hell.

Theme * decay and fall of the world

Brook picked up these ideas in 1962 in a production by the Royal Shakespearean Company. It was an absurdist production with no hope or redemption what-so-ever.

He cut the following
* Servants who help Gloucester after his eyes are plucked out
* Edmund’s repenting lines to try and stop Cordelia’s death

He cut all notes of hope from the text.

Paul Schofield played Lear. He was absolutely cold and austere. The final image was of Edgar dragging away the corpses and a stage smeared in blood.

*** In the hostile universe Brook created, nature and the gods were indifferent to human suffering. (Note: PERFECT link here to Gloucester’s line: “As flies to wanton boys are we to th’ gods/They kill us for their sport. (I’d check the lines, I’m pretty sure they are correct, but double check))
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 0, Guests: 1)

Top