King Lear

Welles has his faults, but he certainly lived and breathed Shakespeare. Here, he puts on a very abbreviated version of Lear. Although the the sound and camerawork seem primitive now, there's a sense that we're not seeing this on stage -- we're part of the crowd witnessing the events. It's an interesting attempt to offer Shakespeare to the masses; I just wonder how many of them heard enough to make it worth it. Fav moment: OW's Aquaman look.

Having thankless children is tough. Turns out I can live without Edmund, but it is all a bit stagey, with quite a lot of wooden performances, and there is definitely no inclusion of “whose face between her forks presages snow” in this TV production.

If you love Orson Welles, you must see this, of course. Any record of his King Lear is a valuable historical document. But man, there are problems. It's condensed, obviously, but it also FEELS condensed. And technical issues abound, especially poor audio so that many lines are impossible to understand. It's worth nothing that Peter Brook not only prepared the teleplay but, according to the spoken intro, directed the actors in the play. McCullough's credit is for the television production itself.

It has technical issues, due to it being done on live television. There is equipment visible often, with there even being a big wardrobe malfunction that couldn't get fixed. The audio gets quiet enough at times that you won't be able to hear what is being said, while the characters are overacted as one would do on the stage. This doesn't translate well to television though, and it makes the production seem silly. There are better versions of King Lear out there.