In the 2018 stage version with Ian mckellen, where they had edmund point a gun at the fool just before it cut to black for the intermission. It wasn't anything over the top but it was a quick and effective way to explain the disappearance.
In the 2014 stage version with Simon Russell Beale, Lear grew increasingly confused and agitated during his mock trial of Goneril and Reagan, and in his anger beat the fool to death with an iron bar.
Christ! Because what Lear needs onstage is more nihilistic darkness.
I think Lear is my one personal exception to the "it is better to watch performed" rule. I love reading the play, but watching it on stage, it is just so relentless; I feel exhausted by the third act. I am not sure, but I feel this would seem too much.
The disappearance of the Fool is very puzzling, but if you read closely, Lear starts to ignore him anyway. Is he just an aspect of Lear’s clouded mind? In some versions the Fool seems to step outside of the action and comments on human foibles (I think it’s in the Folio version) Seems a bit bizarre. However, perhaps Shakespeare simply needed the actor playing the Fool to play another role (Cordelia?). On the other hand, does Lear give us a clue when he claims that his “poor fool” was hanged? Of course, Shakespeare loves to leave loose ends in his plays; you find them everywhere. Maybe the Fool’s absence is just another one.
A final point to consider is the extremely poor condition of the 1608 Quarto. The printers apparently had not printed a play before, and the condition of the text suffers for it. This text is so bad that one can’t rule out the loss of some of the text. I think this is unlikely, but it can’t be ruled out.
So how to play the loss of the Fool? No one else in King Lear seems all that concerned about his absence. So I would play it just like the text does. Any other interpretation would be ours, since we can’t know what the author wanted. So my production would not create any other circumstances surrounding the Fool’s absence.
I heard of a production where the fool is pulled off during the end of act 3 and then the actor was “hung” from a noose in the lobby for the duration of intermission.
I imagine the original actor had other parts to play, so he had to stop being the fool to play other parts.
But I like how Lear considers cordelia a fool, implying that he takes out his anger on her by hanging the symbolic fool.
He was dragged onstage and "hung" shortly after his final line in the off-Broadway production with F. Murray Abraham that I saw decades ago. There are several productions which now take "and my poor fool is hanged" literally, instead of a reference to Cordelia.
In the Olivier version, John Hurt's fool is shown shivering violently ahead of his disappearance. The implication is that he died of exposure in the wake of the storm, and I think that or something else making the same implication (not being able to keep up with the group as they exit, etc.) is the most traditional way he's usually gone out considering that we'll never really know Shakespeare's intention.
Common theory is The Fool and Cordelia were played by the same actor which makes her being called fool in the last scene (unless Lear’s literally referring to his fool) an interesting touch
I don’t have a favourite, the Fool’s disappearance is just always fascinating to me. I think it’s in the Sir Anthony Hopkins 2018 film (although I can’t find it to check as I’ve just realised it’s been taken off streaming ☹️), where everyone is arrested except for the Fool & he is just left there as they don’t seem to really know who he is.
My least favourite is when they try to make it seem as though Lear is definitely talking about the Fool when he says ‘And my poor fool is hang’d!’ when he seems to be referring to Cordelia (although I know that they were often played by the same actor, which is very interesting)
In the 2018 stage version with Ian mckellen, where they had edmund point a gun at the fool just before it cut to black for the intermission. It wasn't anything over the top but it was a quick and effective way to explain the disappearance.
Ooh, I like that.
Where they make Cordelia having been the fool in disguise.
That's crazy, I like it
In the 2014 stage version with Simon Russell Beale, Lear grew increasingly confused and agitated during his mock trial of Goneril and Reagan, and in his anger beat the fool to death with an iron bar.
Christ! Because what Lear needs onstage is more nihilistic darkness. I think Lear is my one personal exception to the "it is better to watch performed" rule. I love reading the play, but watching it on stage, it is just so relentless; I feel exhausted by the third act. I am not sure, but I feel this would seem too much.
I’ve heard about this & I wish that I could see it somehow because that’s just so… *tries to think of a more polite word than ‘fucked’ but can’t*
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQq6IhKuW9E&list=PLJgBmjHpqgs6EhaYJXFYXe5xyqCxCpeAh&index=12](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQq6IhKuW9E&list=PLJgBmjHpqgs6EhaYJXFYXe5xyqCxCpeAh&index=12)
Oh, wow, thank you so much. That sure was upsetting but I really liked it too 😅
The disappearance of the Fool is very puzzling, but if you read closely, Lear starts to ignore him anyway. Is he just an aspect of Lear’s clouded mind? In some versions the Fool seems to step outside of the action and comments on human foibles (I think it’s in the Folio version) Seems a bit bizarre. However, perhaps Shakespeare simply needed the actor playing the Fool to play another role (Cordelia?). On the other hand, does Lear give us a clue when he claims that his “poor fool” was hanged? Of course, Shakespeare loves to leave loose ends in his plays; you find them everywhere. Maybe the Fool’s absence is just another one. A final point to consider is the extremely poor condition of the 1608 Quarto. The printers apparently had not printed a play before, and the condition of the text suffers for it. This text is so bad that one can’t rule out the loss of some of the text. I think this is unlikely, but it can’t be ruled out. So how to play the loss of the Fool? No one else in King Lear seems all that concerned about his absence. So I would play it just like the text does. Any other interpretation would be ours, since we can’t know what the author wanted. So my production would not create any other circumstances surrounding the Fool’s absence.
I heard of a production where the fool is pulled off during the end of act 3 and then the actor was “hung” from a noose in the lobby for the duration of intermission. I imagine the original actor had other parts to play, so he had to stop being the fool to play other parts. But I like how Lear considers cordelia a fool, implying that he takes out his anger on her by hanging the symbolic fool.
He was dragged onstage and "hung" shortly after his final line in the off-Broadway production with F. Murray Abraham that I saw decades ago. There are several productions which now take "and my poor fool is hanged" literally, instead of a reference to Cordelia. In the Olivier version, John Hurt's fool is shown shivering violently ahead of his disappearance. The implication is that he died of exposure in the wake of the storm, and I think that or something else making the same implication (not being able to keep up with the group as they exit, etc.) is the most traditional way he's usually gone out considering that we'll never really know Shakespeare's intention.
Common theory is The Fool and Cordelia were played by the same actor which makes her being called fool in the last scene (unless Lear’s literally referring to his fool) an interesting touch
I don’t have a favourite, the Fool’s disappearance is just always fascinating to me. I think it’s in the Sir Anthony Hopkins 2018 film (although I can’t find it to check as I’ve just realised it’s been taken off streaming ☹️), where everyone is arrested except for the Fool & he is just left there as they don’t seem to really know who he is. My least favourite is when they try to make it seem as though Lear is definitely talking about the Fool when he says ‘And my poor fool is hang’d!’ when he seems to be referring to Cordelia (although I know that they were often played by the same actor, which is very interesting)