Emus On Stage

Belvoir St Theatre Company’s ‘The True History of the Life and Death of King Lear and His Three Daughters’ was one of the best adaptations of a Shakespearean play I’ve seen over the last few years. With an allstar cast, this production was thrilling and emotional. Despite its length, three acts with two intermissions, it was quick, well paced and full of tension. This beautiful piece was adapted and directed by Eamon Flack. 

The set was simple; the classic Belvoir stage with a circle in the middle and a row of chairs along the back wall.  Morgan Moroney’s lighting design helped to serve the story well. While I personally find eccentric lighting design to be the most interesting to watch, however, Moroney’s subtle light changes throughout most of the play allowed the actors to hold their space without the audience being externally distracted. During a moment of anger and chaos when King Lear and The Fool ran into battle, the landscape of the play relied on heavy lighting. Moroney suspended strobe lights from the ceiling, flickering at the same rate as a heartbeat. This moment worked well narratively, catching only an image at a time along with the loud base music helped embellish the anger in King Lear’s dialogue.  

Before the show I was lucky enough to see, Flack addressed the audience, stating one of his actors was unwell and Lizzie Schebesta would be standing in as Goneril. Flack humbly asked for our grace as they were only able to rehearse with Schebesta the day prior. Being familiar with her work as Goneril in Bell Shakespeare’s 2024 production of King Lear, I was eagerly excited to see how she would adapt to this production with almost no rehearsals. Should Flack have said nothing, I would never have noticed. Schebesta was incredible, to the point where I couldn’t tell which actor was the stand in. Schebesta played Goneril with grace and deportment, contrary to her other two sisters. 

Ahunim Abebe played Cordielia, a quick witted and honest daughter of King Lear. Like Schebesta, I was a fan of Abebe’s performance in Sydney Theatre Company’s ‘Circle Mirror Transformation’ and I was excited to see her take on such a classic work. Abebe was powerful and strong. She immaculately balanced the loyalty to herself with the loyalty to her father and left us feeling utterly heartbroken. King Lear’s third daughter Regan was brilliantly played by Jana Zvedeniuk. Unlike her sisters, Zvedeniuk adaptation was hostile and cutthroat. Her words floated through her but landed on her costars like a knife. 

The epic King Lear was played by Colin Friels. A character that was played with incredible highs and lows. Friel’s understanding of Shakespeare and linguistics was incredibly evident. The rage and delusion was unlike anything I’ve experienced live. Despite the heightened language, every word was understood narratively and emotionally. There were moments where I was terrified being in the same room with him, but there were also deep moments of sorrow and empathy when his mind started to slip away. The beloved Peter Carrol played the fool. Dressed in a Hawaiian shirt and ready for the beach, Carrol played the crazy, drunk Great Uncle at Christmas. His character was hilarious and helped break up the unfolding serious tone. Carrol cleverly turned some of his iambic monologues into raps pairing it with a keyboard and music. The fool was witty, charismatic and physically hilarious.

Tom Conroy was probably the most personally impactful. Playing Edgar and thus Poor Tom, Conroy completely succumbed to Poor Tom’s saviage psychosis.  Wearing nothing but knickers and white paint, Conroy rolled, crawled and jumped wide eyed, convincing all of us he was left isolated in a forest and brought up by wolves. As Poor Tom comes back to reality, and avenges his truth, Conroy traps us all in a bubble of sorrow that’s only popped when the play finishes. My heart broke for the Countess of Gloucester played by Alison Whyte. Whyte’s interpretation created a timid but assertive woman navigating the commands of the men above her. Watching her gentleness in the first act and a half made the end of act 2 extraordinarily difficult to watch. Her eyes are brutally gouged out spluttering blood everywhere. Her cries for help were antagonising to hear and seeing her in act 3 trying to navigate blind was heartbreaking.

Charles Wu playing Cornwall, Conor Mergigan-Turner playing France, Brandon McClelland playing Kent, and James Fraiser playing Oswald were quick witted and sharp. They all had a unanimous angst towards each other for no other reason than their loyalty to their own party. They would prowl around with their chests forward like birds until the tough got going where they succumbed and physically shrunk. 

The play was beautifully accompanied by a handful of musicians: Harley Coleman, Hillary Geddes, Jess Green and Arjunan Puveendran. The music was a fusion of western instruments with a slight emphasis on Indian rhythms and scales. 

Flack’s interpretation of the classic Shakespeare King Lear created a sincere and emotional performance. As the actors had their last scene they would sit along the back of the stage on a row of chairs. Slowly the row became more full. The last to sit down was Edgar. As he said his last line he sorrowfully took in the space, the weight of the play taking over him. For a decent amount of time there was no talking, just Edgar. Flack did an amazing job at endowing us in emotion right through to the end. This play was absolutely a love child of the cast and crew and I’m so glad I was able to experience that with them. 

RATING 

Performers Skill 5 / 5

Stage and Atmosphere 4.5 / 5

Value for Money PAID $45  5 / 5

Entertainment value 4.5 / 5

19 / 20