(Posted February 9, 2007)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – There are few theatrical experiences more sublime than watching good actors breathe life into the words of William Shakespeare.

Fracé has set his abridged version of this great tragedy in the mind of a nursing home patient. The setting goes back and forth between visions of imagination and reality as we watch a royal family and a nation tear itself apart while an old man slowly fades from life in his modern clinical confinement.

This show runs 90 minutes instead of the four hours it takes to present the complete work. Obviously, there's much of LEAR's engrossing detail that's left out, but what remains still reminds us of the play's questions: Can there be justice for man in a world that often elevates cruelty and indifference? What hope can reasonable authority have in a chaotic world? Can the balm of reconciliation heal all wounds or in some instances come too late? And putting it in a nursing home patient's mind reminds us that these questions aren't just the musings of a playwright who died nearly 400 years ago but timeless queries people will explore today and long after our 21st century life is over.

Is there anything that could be changed about this show? It's certainly debatable. I would have focused exclusively on the dramatically rich relationship between Lear and his daughters in a 90-minute adaptation, but that doesn't mean Fracé's inclusion of scenes with a blinded Gloucester and his son Edgar pretending to be Tom the beggarly fool aren't worthy of presentation. It's just a different route to the same destination – an exploration of LEAR's struggle between humanity and inhumanity.

Fracé (a Nashville native and SITI Company associate who previously directed terrific productions of 1984 and MOTHER COURAGE for People's Branch Theatre) writes in his director's program notes that he wanted to do a chamber version of the play "to see whether I could hear it better." To that end he's employed the musical talents of New York-based composers/musicians Christian Frederickson and Eve Miller.

Frederickson and Miller take their viola and cello and combine them to create another character for this LEAR that plays off and against Shakespeare's human roles. The life they bring to their playing, and the play, is a beautiful and ethereal compliment to the Bard's words.

I will gladly admit my bias for the cast Fracé has assembled. I've viewed theater from New York and London to Sydney and Tokyo, and I don't think he could have picked better actors anywhere than the ones he has in Nashville.

Samuel Whited is a stunning Lear, skillfully revealing the journey the aged King makes from valuing facades to embracing life's often painful reality. Tia Shearer shines as an energetic Fool and a heart-capturing Cordelia. Rona Carter powerfully plays Goneril, Burgundy and Gloucester with all their humanity instead of making easy choices to present good or bad in the vague way some actors do.

Jessejames Locorriere (whose return to Nashville should be celebrated by Music City theater patrons and practitioners alike) puts his remarkable versatility on display while he slithers as Regan, comforts as France and compellingly presents human absurdity and madness through Edgar's feigned insanity as Tom. Jessika Malone's nurse and Fredrickson's brief cameo as a doctor also serve to keep us firmly in this LEAR's world at Belmont University's Little Theatre.

Fracé and Annie Freeman have combined to create a set flowing with river-like ribbons of color and texture. Their innovative work frames the tortured world of Lear and his shattered kingdom while creating a hallucinatory feeling that allows us to believe we're seeing the sometimes skewed inner workings of an old man's mind.

Freeman's costumes are imaginative and worthy of Shakespeare's well-conceived characters. They allow us to identify the position of each player in LEAR's world without confining those players in fashioned stereotypes a lesser designer might create. Freeman has a divine gift for such work, and I hope we'll continue to see her artistically inviting designs in theater productions.

Rounding out components that make this LEAR compelling are the light design of Mitch Massaro and the sound design of Matt Bassett. They understand how to illuminate and amplify this show in the intimate space of the Little Theatre without underplaying or overplaying their hands.

Fracé has brought KING LEAR to resounding life in his chamber presentation. He's done what a good director does – find the best people and allow their gifts to serve the work. My interaction with Fracé leads me to believe he would agree with the notion that Shakespeare's wonderful, challenging text can be visited and revisited in a multitude of ways. His way is entertaining, intriguing and illuminating.