(Laura Cappelle’s article appeared in the Financial Times, 7/17.)
Avignon Festival loves a controversy, and its director Olivier Py certainly provided one this summer. In his second year at the helm, Py chose to claim the most prestigious spot in the line-up for himself: his new production of King Lear opened proceedings in the courtyard of the Popes’ Palace and was promptly slammed as a disastrous failure.
This Lear doesn’t quite deserve such universal contempt, though it undermines the play from the start. Cordelia is played by a silent ballet dancer who performs arabesques and tapes her mouth when asked to speak, while the traitor Edmond roars in on a motorbike.
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/0474a8c4-2aea-11e5-acfb-cbd2e1c81cca.html#axzz3gRzGg9Ur
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