King Lear Reviews

Los Angeles Times- Not Recommended

"...The bloody mess at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, where a lunatic production of "King Lear" is running riot, is shocking to the sensibility. Shakespeare's play is put in a Cuisinart. Characters are cut, lines reallocated, scenes rearranged. The problem isn't that liberties are taken but that there's so little dramatic sense behind the maneuvers."

Stage and Cinema- Not Recommended

"...One of the greatest travesties in L.A. theater history arrived at The Wallis last weekend, and I still have the emotional scars to prove it. A showcase for Joe Morton, who starred as Dick Gregory in The Wallis's production of Turn Me Loose, this misguided adaptation of Shakespeare's King Lear has at the forefront some of the most atrocious miscasting, or rather, lack of acting that one would expect of a junior high school. Worse, it has a wonky vision that doesn't support the text. Instead of producing a worthy new play that requires a mid-size house in order to get the rights to be produced, The Wallis has decided to take its gorgeous theater (500 seats, plus more added on upstage risers), and allow Turn Me Loose's director John Gould Rubin to turn King Lear into a modern-day, incomprehensible, infuriating abomination. (Ironically, across town at Anteaus, a low-budget Hamlet, adapted by Elizabeth Swain, understands that the play is, indeed, the thing.)"

LA Splash- Somewhat Recommended

"...Above all, audiences cannot fault the enthusiasm and energy of the cast led by the talented Joe Morton. Directed by John Gould Rubin, who certainly had to stay on his toes, KING LEAR is definitely a different version of the old story. With music composition and sound design by Danny Erdberg and Ursala Kwong-Brown, KING LEAR is bold, loud, and occasionally jocular. The current production should appeal to true lovers of Shakespeare - but primarily to audiences who enjoy a new and creative take on Shakespeare."

Gia on the Move- Not Recommended

"...Dreadful direction. Nonsensical double casting. Swapped scenes. Tepid projection, lighting, and scenic design. Cheesy costumes. Unintelligible delivery of text. There's just no other way to describe it. KING LEAR is an utter disaster."

Stage Raw- Not Recommended

"...I found this a bit frustrating, to put it mildly, given how so many of the themes in King Lear - a tragedy about the end of the world - resonate so directly with the staggering threat to Western democracies across the globe. This is a play where lies and allegations are contrived against good people with grounded ethical convictions, where the charge of treason flies out from all camps, as it has in our nation since 2020. The character of Edmund - fueled by grievance over his very identity - would, in 2022, be a member-in-good standing of The Proud Boys or the Oath Keepers."

Peoples World- Recommended

"...Clocking in at three hours-plus with one intermission, and given ye olde English spouted onstage, some ticket buyers may find this production tedious, hard to sit through and follow. But the more serious theatergoers among us-dare I say we few lucky "Shakespeareans," we band of Bard fans'-are likely to be enthralled by this contemporary rendition of an early 17th-century classic about family angst that remains all too relevant lo, these long years since the greatest playwright of all time dipped his magical quill into immortal ink. The show also provides fortunate Angeleno audiences with yet another opportunity to see the great Joe Morton perform live and in person, since his pre-pandemic one-man show Turn Me Loose about that king of comedy Dick Gregory at the Wallis."

Ticket Holders LA- Not Recommended

"...Modernizing and reinventing the famous works by the Bard once in awhile can prove thrilling but, in the hands of director John Gould Rubin, known for his "radical reconstructions" of the great classics, the current production of King Lear at the Wallis makes a charade of such an otherwise occasionally noble practice."

Broadway World- Not Recommended

"...What goes wrong at the Wallis' Just about everything. This production, billed as a "reinvention," is big on cellphones, hashtags and a thematic overlay of a world in environmental as well as moral crisis. In scenic designer Christopher Barreca's configuration, the Wallis's Bram Goldsmith Theater seats audiences both at the back of the stage and facing it. The actors join them in the front rows, sometimes playing directly to them. An underscoring soundtrack by Danny Erdberg and Ursala Kwong-Brown is unrelenting and frequently distracting."