Photo Credit: Michelle Owczarski
For its ninth season, Optimist Theatre’s free Shakespeare in the Park series takes on William Shakespeare’s hottest trending play. King Lear, with its resonant exploration of the monumental damage that one leader’s unyielding pride can wreak on those under his power, is undeniably pertinent. Yet this production isn’t heavy handed; Optimist allows the parallels to speak for themselves and focuses on building solid relationships between characters and a truly exquisite production design.
Most striking in the latter category is a large circular set piece affixed to the back wall. Designed by Ron Scot Fry and impeccably lit by Colin Gawronski, it functions in myriad poetic capacities. Displaying far more range than an average piece of scenery, it serves as the map of a fractured country, an eclipsed sun, the turning wheel of fortune and more.
With direction by Lisa Gaye Dixon, veteran Milwaukee actor James Pickering takes the title role, bringing a boyishness to Lear’s decent into madness that casts the famous character in a unique light. While it’s always difficult to sympathize with the bombastic, selfish king, Pickering’s characterization allows us at least to have pity for a man who truly doesn’t see that he’s put his trust in the wrong people and suffers considerably for his poor judgement. Perfectly complementing him is Robert Spencer as the Fool, impossibly sweet and exceptionally vulnerable in a hopelessly degraded situation. On the other end of the spectrum is Jacque Troy’s Goneril—power-mad, morally bankrupt and yet somehow likeable for the sheer delight she takes in machination; her witchy cackle seals the deal. Jonathan Wainwright as the clever traitor Edmund is similarly attention grabbing for his subtle facial expressions and vocal delivery, which sell the part of long-suffering illegitimate son at last taking a horrifying stand for his own future.
Stay on top of the news of the day
Subscribe to our free, daily e-newsletter to get Milwaukee's latest local news, restaurants, music, arts and entertainment and events delivered right to your inbox every weekday, plus a bonus Week in Review email on Saturdays.
What’s most impressive about Optimist’s choice to stage Lear this season is that it forces us to consider the people behind the politics. While the choices these characters make are grandiose and even hard to believe, so are the times we live in now. Rather than stray into the maelstrom of rhetoric and partisanship, Optimist commendably asks us to consider what personality traits, what relationship dynamics and what fundamental assumptions about the qualifications for power underpin the predicaments in which we find ourselves.
Through July 21 at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts’ Peck Pavilion, 929 N. Water St. Seating is first come, first served.
