From Thursday right straight to Friday before the play unfolded, I was totally anxious.. couldn't really believe I had one of those coverted tickets in my hands. Sure, my ticket might have been for a seat high high up in Circle 3 & cost $122, but I didn't give a damn.. it's Sir McKellen, so who cares abt anything else. Friday I had gone back to the office for a lil rehearsal for my company's D&D & I had to ask my collegues who had gone the night before. All 3 of 'em were left speechless and were raving abt the performance. That of course got me more anxious.. lol.. usually performances are on a high on the opening night, then drop into a lull & end on a high again but I trusted that this wouldn't be the case with the RSC.
The minutes passed & soon I made my way to the Esplanade, meeting 2 other collegues who were there for the show too. Very quickly, it was 15 to 8pm & we took our seats. The whole time as I waited for the theatre lights to dim, I felt like a child on Christmas morning, who had just awoken and was eager to fly under the Christmas tree to rip open the presents. Moments later, the actors came onstage & the magic started. The whole time I was only focused on one man - Sir McKellen.. of course I was taking in the rest but I won't deny that most of my attention was soaking the aura of that theatre great. Watching him perform, left me with goosepimples. Sir McKellen had initially declined to take on the heavy role of Lear but boy, was I glad he changed his mind. Sir McKellen's Lear was endearing, you could see before your eyes how he unfolded from an egostitical monarch to an old man fested upon insanity. The change towards insanity was so very subtle, you could literally see the struggle from within him, fighting against going mad. The rants in the storm were not overly done, with loud rants and abuses but subtle, slow and steady questions and doubts that were presented.
The rest of the cast were able to hold their fort as well, except Cordelia (Romola Garai) & the King of France (Ben Addis), who were a little plastic.. they seemed out of place.. Cordelia seemed to be moving through the emotions without carrying them forward. Frances Barber, who played Lear's eldest daughter, Goneril, was really great too, though at some moments she came across as too forward in character. Two other actors beside Sir McKellen who really left an impression on me were William Gaunt, who played the Earl of Gloucester & Sylvester McCoy, who played Lear's Fool. It is never ever easy playing the role of a Fool but McCoy did a wonderful job. In the scene where the two rejected fathers were lamenting their misfortunes - the Earl of Gloucester & Lear, it was so moving the exchange between the two actors, I fought to hold back my tears in vain. They both clearly portrayed the pain, hurt & anguish experience - one on the verge of insanity & the other having had his eyes gouged out.
The whole play took a total of 3 and a half hours but time wasn't of the essence... that was how it is, watching a Shakespearean play, what more one based on one of his greatest tragedy. I had to sit leaning forward to catch the full view because there was a barrier in front of me, but I couldn't be bothered.. here I was right in the front row of Circle 3 & right smacked in the centre.. it was still a good view & no barrier could change tt for me. Unfortunately tho', I had 2 dings sitting nearby.. one a "supposed" GP teacher on my left & a young boy (abt 17-20) a seat away on my right. That boy was giving his friend beside him a "know-it-all" about the best seats to get if one was back in the Shakespearean times at the Global Theatre... when the first scene opened and Cordelia took her spot to speak, Mr. Know-It-All commented rather loudly "Man, she's hot!" I'm like "Hello? You're here to watch a substance play, not to compare how hot or not the actresses were.. in case point, a shallow comment. Know what's worse? At the end of the performance, when Sir McKellen garnered a standing ovation, that same boy was shouting loudly "Magneto!!!" I almost slapped him!!! Come on, man.. Magneto.. Sir McKellen is way more than that X-Men character he played in the movies.. any "know-it-all" Shakespeare fan would know... & to even shout out "Magneto" at a Lear performance is plain juvenile.
Still, nothing could beat the "supposed" GP teacher.. for crying out loud, you claim to be a teacher & yet you know bananas abt theatre etiquette.. she kept moving forward & back in her seat, nevermind if you do it quietly but her seat kept creaking & to add to that, she had a plastic bottle at the side of her chair, so everytime she moved, the plastic crackled. URGH!!!!!!!! Then she kept fidgeting with her stupid shawl, kept flinging it over her shoulders again & again & the tasseled bits kept hitting me.. I was ready to take her shawl & strangle her!!! During the intermission, after she came back from outside, she asked to borrow my programme booklet and then was talking her friends just like the boy on my other side did abt how greatly knowledged she was.. talking abt how it was like having visited Stratford-upon-Avon, blah blah blah.. then she told me (dunno why.. not like I cared to know) that she had done theatre studies when she was at Cambridge. I was just thinking "Yeah, you studied theatre studies all the WAY in Cambridge & ur knowledge on theatre etiquette is like a clueless banana." Besides all that moronic behaviour, she added even more but putting her foot up on the wall's edge, under the barrier & then sitting cross-legged on the chair!!! OMG!!! It's not like ur feet are clean!!!
Despite these two, I refused to let my once-in-a-lifetime Sir McKellen-RSC experience fail.. it was mindblowing & had I had the money, I would have gone for all 3 shows.. I came home totally buzzed that night & wasn't able to sleep.. lol.. kept thinking of the whole performance.. I'm so glad I grabbed the chance even tho it meant days of bread & instant noodles.. nothing can compare to the rush I had watching the performance. I am also so glad that RSC chose to have a stopover at Singapore, making us their ONLY Asian stopover. I paid $15 for a huge RSC Lear poster even tho I hadn't much money left but I just had to get it.. I'll be working to get that huge poster framed & have it hung up in my own home.
This is the picture on my poster.. if only Sir McKellen had actually signed it =p
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