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Theatre

Sam Mendes's King Lear is a must-see for masochists

Sprawling, baffling and unwieldy, the play punishes everyone who gets involved with it: actors, directors and play-goers

1 February 2014

9:00 AM

1 February 2014

9:00 AM

King Lear

Olivier, in rep until 28 May

What the Women Did

Southwark Playhouse, until 15 February

Directors appear to have two design options when approaching a Shakespeare tragedy. Woodstock or jackboot. Woodstock means papal robes, shoulder-length hair and silver Excaliburs gleaming from jewelled belts. Jackboot means pistols, berets, holsters and submachine-guns. Sam Mendes sticks the jackboot into King Lear in an attempt to find ‘a modern understanding of the story’, as he puts it.

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