Szeged Contemporary Ballet: LEAR

Time is thrown off its axis… as it often is in Shakespeare’s works. But while Hamlet steps onto the stage with certainty that he can still set things right, Lear loses the battle in an instant. He does not fall apart gradually; the once mighty king and confident man is shattered the moment his beloved wife passes away. From there, his journey is a staggering path toward his final rest. His mood swings, curses, fits of rage, and desperate attempts to cling to his daughters are all explained by the irreplaceable void inside him. Unable to continue ruling, he is forced to divide the kingdom—not by careful planning, but through frantic improvisation.

 

Lear is a drama of deprivation and hunger for love. The yearning to love and to be loved permeates every character’s life. First and foremost the king himself, for whom this lack is terrifyingly new, as his once rock-solid certainty in mutual love crumbles before our eyes. Gloucester, who believes the memories of his neglected childhood with his illegitimate son Edmund can be erased, and dreams of family unity between brothers. Prince Alban, whose love leaks away like sand slipping through clenched fingers as he faces the betrayal of his wife Goneril. The only happy character is Regan, who pays for her joy with her husband Cornwall’s death after a betrayal against Gloucester. Kent, the embodiment of loyal service, returns time and again—exiled, denied, disguised—to follow his master Lear, barely outliving him after his heart stops forever. The illegitimate son Edmund, who dies with the sigh, “Edmund was still loved,” after being wounded by his own brother. Edgar, who watches in despair his formerly loving father grow cold without reason. And finally, Cordelia, the youngest daughter, who chooses to love through actions rather than sweet words—untamed, rebellious, and fiercely independent in her language of love, which Lear cannot understand.

 

Thus comes “the rest is silence.” But this is once again Hamlet—the other Shakespeare.