King Lear is one of the supreme challenges for any company, and the professional Actors' Shakespeare Project, in kicking off its second season, has courageously stepped up to the plate. Boston has not been lucky in its recent Lears: F. Murray Abraham played it with the American Repertory Theatre in 1991, and Austin Pendleton with the New Repertory Theatre in 2000. Both were failures. For impressive enactments, one would have to go back to Harold Scott in 1958 and Paul Scofield in 1964.
Now we have the octogenarian monarch played by Alvin Epstein, who is actually 80 years old. He played the Fool to Orson Welles' Lear in 1956, and Gloucester (1991) was one of his more than 50 parts with the ART. Now he has moved up to the title role; and, despite his age, demonstrates plenty of stamina and magnetism. He imparts an unusually broad range of moods, from solemn majesty to total derangement, and, under Patrick Swanson's direction, finds more humor in the part than one would expect. At times he becomes positively frisky and scampers about in an oversized diaper. He reaches uncommon heights with his "O, reason not the need" and "Poor naked wretches" speeches, and at the end, his "Are you not Kent??" is remarkable. The recognition scene between him and his beloved daughter Cordelia (Sarah Newhouse) is the production's high point - just heartbreaking.
The supporting players are never less than adequate and often admirable. Allyn Burrows is a splendid Kent, becoming (when banished) a Frenchman wearing an apron and beret. Given Epstein's relatively small stature, it is Kent rather than Lear who carries Cordelia's dead body in the last scene. Benjamin Evett is strong as the evil Edmund, prowling around athletically and even sliding down a banister. Ken Cheeseman's Fool is the best work he has done with this company.
The blinding of Gloucester (Colin Lane) could be better handled, and one missed Regan's sneering, "Let him smell his way to Dover." Someone should tell Edgar (Doug Lockwood) that the word "lamentable" is accented on the first syllable. The storm scenes suffer from the excessive rattling of large cans and the bowing of a metal sheet, thus rendering the spoken words unintelligible. Otherwise, the sound design includes the frequent and ominous droning of an Indian tambura. (The 1608 Quarto edition and the 1623 Folio edition of the text are quite different; this production is based on the latter.)
