Director, Charlie Parham
                       
The task of writing these Director’s seems almost impossible, as I try to condense my entire experience of the play and this particular production into so few words. Perhaps “words” is the best place to begin. This King Lear inhabits a “modern” aesthetic. But Shakespeare’s words have not, I hope, been left behind along with the boards of the Globe. Conflating the Folio and Quarto editions of the play, this production is driven by language. It seems an obvious thing to say, but I feel that a modern director of Shakespeare must make a conscious effort to realize their vision and find inspiration through the text, rather than arriving at the words via an anachronistic agenda.

This tragedy could not better remind one of the importance of such an approach, with its constant thematic preoccupation with both the power and the futility of words: Cordelia is banished because she refuses to buy into the ‘glib and oily art’ of courtly flattery because, in her mind, some sentiments are too deep for verbal expression; as the stage manager will confirm with a pained sigh, so much of this play’s action is driven by innumerable exchanges of letters; wisdom is buried beneath the puns and allegorical language of the Fool; madness (or perhaps ‘reason in madness’) is voiced in the seemingly meaningless nonsense of Edgar’s guise, Poor Tom; as the drama progresses, Lear discovers Cordelia’s initial conviction as he can no longer find words to communicate the extremity of his emotions, filling a whole line with the repetition of ‘never’, or with five ‘O’ sounds to convey a desperate groaning. The meaning of language also seems to be wearing away to ‘nothing’, an end that is in sight from the very first scene and to which all the characters are bound.

This is a play of extremes. The experiences and actions of the characters seem to surpass any sense of humanity. For this reason, “playing old age” has not been the immeasurable hurdle one might expect. Of course, an older actor can access decades of acting and life experience, but it is swinging between power, weakness, jubilance, pain, reason and madness that challenges the actor most, regardless of their age. I have found it possible to find age through such a rollercoaster of extremes, though someone directing older actors might tackle the play’s senior generation the other way around. Likewise, Goneril and Regan are not realized through “playing evil”, but through their pitifully fraught relationships with their husbands, their father and each other. The audience’s various sympathies for Lear or those who surround him should be complex, and never too one-sided. I therefore believe that the portrayal of Lear the father – as opposed to Lear the protagonist king – is crucial, and a critical reason for choosing a modern setting; I felt that I could best convey the appropriate balance between the domestic and the political with a contemporary environment. Deciding to double the roles of Cordelia and the Fool was partly for the same reason. (The finer nuances brought to the production by this doubling are manifold, but better seen than read.)  No, they are not the same person, but the latter’s interaction with Lear reflects a tenderness in the king’s character that could provide a glimpse of his former affection for Cordelia. This serves to intensify his loss at the end of the play that could otherwise be difficult for an audience to invest in, given Cordelia’s absence for the majority of the tragedy. As the uncertain conclusion drawn by Albany, Kent and Edgar proves, the political has  deteriorated, and the image that remains after the play ends is of a dead father and his three lifeless daughters.

This production could not have happened without our fantastic production team and all those who offered their help and advice. I have enjoyed every second and I couldn’t wish for a more talented and dedicated team.

Charlie started directing at school where The Bald Prima Donna and Attempts on her Life (Crimp) were his first productions. At Cambridge he has directed Kelly’s DNA (ADC), Shepard’s True West,  Corpus Playroom), and Stoppard’s Arcadia (ADC). He looks forward to playing John in Mamet’s Oleanna (Corpus Playroom) this February, as well as directing Wynne’s The Priory (ADC). Recent acting includes: ETG 2010/11 The Taming of the Shrew, Jacques and his Master, True West, The Lover and Ashes to Ashes. Last summer he played Banquo in Macbeth at the Edinburgh Fringe, and associate directed Cymbeline, the inaugural production of Fools and Kings, of which he is co-director. He is also a member of the National Youth Theatre