News-Record.com

If you're producing a Shakespeare drama, you'd better make sure you cast a heckuva good actor in the title role ...

Macbeth ,,,

Hamlet ...

Richard III ...

Henry V ...

Othello ...

and definitely King Lear.

Success depends on it.

The North Carolina Shakespeare Festival is fortunate to have Graham Smith tackling the assignment. Smith, a veteran of many seasons on the High Point stage, has aged grandly into Lear. Wispy thin, yet capable of projecting a thunderous voice, Smith delivers a king who's frail and vulnerable but at times commanding and ferocious.

We sat in the second row at NCSF's preview performance Saturday night, a great vantage point to observe Smith's skills at close hand. Mediocre actors recite Shakespeare well enough, but good ones reveal the emotions in a teary eye, a shaky lip, a sigh or a cold stare. Smith is a convincing Lear in every respect.

He's supported by other talented performers, especially Ellen McQueen as Goneril, Matt Daniels as Edmund, David Foubert as Edgar and Michael Stewart Allen as Kent.

Smith is well matched with Henson Keys as the Fool, a part perhaps meant for a younger actor. His age works well here, however, as the obvious affection between the characters seems to flow from long familiarity, like two friends who've grown old together.

This is a powerful play, where foolishness, craving for power, ego and pride lead to tragic consequences. Lear, in giving to those unworthy of receiving, and Edmund, in trying to take from those he thinks less deserving, set into motion forces that end up destroying them and, well, just about everyone. There's no happy ending here. So, to enjoy this play, one has to appreciate the artistry of its language and the portrayal of its raw emotionalism.

The direction is crisp and the acting is superb. NCSF and Graham Smith offer a very fine "King Lear."