Queen Lear maddens the critics

IT was one of the most anticipated theatre events, but MTC's Queen Lear, starring Robyn Nevin, has been savaged by the critics.

IT was one of the most anticipated theatre events of the year, but Melbourne Theatre Company's Queen Lear, starring Robyn Nevin in the "gender-blind" title role, has been savaged by critics.

"It's difficult to find a kind word for this 'cheerless, dark and deadly' production of Lear," wrote The Australian's Melbourne theatre critic, Chris Boyd, borrowing a line from the play.

"With a couple of notable exceptions, the verse and meaning of the play are massacred."

The production, also starring Robert Menzies, opened in Melbourne on Thursday night and runs till August 18.

Online Melbourne critic Alison Croggon wrote: "Misled, misconceived, misdirected, Queen Lear is almost baffling." The Age's Cameron Woodhead tweeted simply: "Queen Lear. Oh dear."

The production, directed by Rachel McDonald in her MTC debut, stars Nevin - widely regarded as one of the country's best actors - as the matriarch Lear.

McDonald, also the dramaturg, made only slight changes to the text in order to accommodate the gender shift.

The Herald-Sun's Kate Herbert wrote: "Changing the gender . . . was always going to be a challenge and Queen Lear succeeds only in part, mainly because of several compelling performances."

But Croggon questioned why - in light of Cate Blanchett's and Pamela Rabe's success as, respectively, Richard II and Richard III in Benedict Andrews' 2009 The War of the Roses - the text needed changing at all.

"Since Lear is, among many other things, a profound study of patriarchy, one would expect that changing the sex of the title role might have been thought through a little more," she wrote. "This is a text that deserves a lot more respect."

Read Chris Boyd's extended review in Arts on Monday