Villains by Necessity: A Review of "King Lear" at American Players Theatre in Spring Green, Wisconsin

Mary Wisniewski, NewCity Stage

In William Shakespeare’s “King Lear,” the character Gloucester laments, “As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods/They kill us for their sport.” But though many characters talk about the gods in “Lear,” the gods are absent from this play’s universe. Both its great suffering and its moments of love and charity are of human manufacture. There is no magic, no faeries or witches, no “Deus Ex Machina.” This is an entirely man-made horror show.

It is fitting, then, that American Players Theatre’s magnificent new production of “King Lear” is simple and straightforward. There are no gimmicks—it’s not set on the moon, or in a dystopian future. Actors in Victorian outfits perform without microphones, projecting over the sounds of frogs, insects and the occasional airplane in an outdoor theater. The effect is devastating, and the opening-night audience was transfixed. I saw people leaning forward in their seats during the second half. I left the theater with my face stiff with grief.

Performing in his twenty-fourth season at American Players, Brian Mani leads a stellar cast as Lear. It’s a role that requires tremendous range—with Lear starting as an egotistical blowhard who commits a terrible error of judgment—favoring his two selfish, duplicitous daughters, Regan and Goneril (Jessica Ko and Nancy Rodríguez) over his loving daughter, Cordelia (Samantha Newcomb). Then he pays, and pays, and pays, reduced to raving madness, wandering in a storm.

Full Review Available Here