King Lear at the Globe

So begins a headlong journey, unportended by any star. At a hasty three hours, Barry Kyle's production uncovers a distinctly Elizabethan dynamic; rough-shod and jolting to sensibilities, as the Fool follows Lear, on understudying a hopeless course of events.

Laughter comes in surprising places; even with the end's most sombre answer. The tradition of oral storytelling, natural to the Globe, has turned audience to players, exposing a freer field of pity.