Jack Lear - Review - Northern Stage

Jack Lear 

Northern Stage 
12th Feb 2019

 A modern take on Lear. Set in Hull in the fishing industry. You might expect guttural language and working class grit. You almost certainly don't expect an ethereal stage set and Shakespearean verse. And it's Lear, so you might not expect too deaths but not too many laughs. You might be surprised.

Jack Lear written by Ben Benison and resented by Hull Truck Theatre is a force to be reckoned with. It is a modern reimagining of the Lear tale. Set in Hull, in the fishing industry, it tells the tale of Jack Lear. A self made man. A hard man. he wanted sons but was cursed with daughters. Undaunted he raises the girls to be men, teaches them to survive in the harsh world of fishermen, making no allowance for girlish softness, nor pubescent angst. The girls learn to stand firm on a rolling deck. The survive harsh, rough life at sea and they survive their father's moods, his violence, his tough love. And they wait for their dues, learning when to speak and when not to, knowing how this hard man work, they bide their time and watch their mouths and eventually are rewarded.

Jack divides up his kingdom, boats and houses between his daughters - all they have to do is give him the assurance that he has a place to live with them. They dissemble, not actually answering his question, but not denying him the right as their father to a place at their hearth. all except the youngest. Victoria cannot give the assurance, she names him for the difficult, drunken disruptive man that he is and refuses to give false assurances. She plans to marry and cannot speak for their future family. For her honesty and forthrightness, she is cut off and banished from the family, her share of the business divided between her older sisters. Before long the sisters' true colours show and a drunken Jack finds himself cast off. He throws himself on the mercy of the sea that has been his life hoping to die in the mighty storm that rages. But he is discovered half dead and placed in a nursing home, a shadow of the man he was.

The themes of madness, family, loyalty, sibling rivalry, the nature of woman, are all evident with a
modern twist. All five of the cast give outstanding performances. Sarah Naughton and Nicola Sanderson as Freda and Morgana, sisters set against each other by their father - forged in rivalry strike the perfect balance of self-preserving collaboration and mistrust. Olivia Onyehara as Victoria - the favoured child, is separated from her sisters by her father's favour and her own

honesty. She transforms from forthright, angry honesty to compassionate forgiveness. Barrie Rutter's Lear swaggers and blusters and bombasts his way through life, bullying and abusing his daughters. He ably transforms from Jack the lad, legendary big man, to fragile lonely old man, creating a sympathetic reaction in the audience. In the end we see through Victoria we see the man he could have been rather than the bully he actually was. The performance which steals the show however is Andy Cryer's Edmund. Sleazy, self serving, a womanising charmer, he slithers and oozes across the stage, addressing the audience directly to reveal his plans. I'm happy to report he gets his just desserts in the end.

A fabulous set is made up of a sail and a tangle of fishing nets suspended from the rafters, with atmospheric lighting and sound - drum rolls, cymbals, thunder and lightning, and a brilliant disco with Edmund throwing some "night fever" shapes on the dance floor, all enhanced with brilliant music by Eliza Carthy.

This is a moving, thoughtful, funny and hugely entertaining production. The juxtaposition of Shakespearean language and the Hull accent is surprising and funny, but absolutely works. Ben Benison's play, under the direction of Barrie Rutter, is a visual and aural delight.

It runs until 16th February.

Denise Sparrowhawk

*pictures by Nobby Clark