At last we have the definitive "King Lear" for our century, and he is played, fittingly enough, by the greatest Shakespearean actor of our time, Laurence Olivier. King Lear had, up until this production, been one of the few great Shakespeare characters that Olivier had not made much of an impression as (he had played it onstage in 1946 in London). But he obviously re-thought his entire performance, and at 75, twice the age of most other Lears, tackled it again, succeeding brilliantly this time. One of the best examples of his ability to make memorable scenes out of tiny but important moments is his trying to get Cordelia (Anna Calder-Marshall) to flatter him with gushing words of love, as his other two daughters (played by Diana Rigg and Dorothy Tutin) have. "Nothing will come of nothing", he says with a loving smile, as if he were coaxing a child to talk, but with an almost subliminal hint of menace. His utimate humiliation and madness are truly mesmerizing and heartbreaking to see, even though we know Lear foolishly brought it on himself. And Olivier has surrounded himself with a brilliant supporting cast as well. The only drawback to this production is the monotonous , unvarying Stonehenge-like set, photographed as if through a fog.
