King Lear

Reviewed by Dana Martin
Zombie Joe’s Underground  Theatre Group 
Through December 17

A manic King Lear has swept into Zombie Joe’s. The fast-paced 90-minute adaptation of Shakespeare’s famous tragedy is about a senile and suicidal king’s dizzying descent into madness. Zombie Joe’s newest incarnation is crudely executed and lacks polish.

Poor old Lear (Robert A. Prior). He’s mean. And old. And crazy. He also happens to be King of England, circa the eighth century. The play begins as Lear gives away his land to his three daughters, Gonerill (Sasha Ilford), Regan (April Sigman-Marx) and Cordelia (Carlita Penaherrera) in exchange for each daughter’s very simple, very public declaration of loyalty, devotion, love. Goneril and Regan wax poetic. Cordelia says nothing. For that, the egotistical Lear disowns Cordelia, who flees with her French boyfriend. Treachery and dysfunction abound in the remaining sisters. They both have the hots for Edmund (Saint Ranson), bastard son of Gloucester. He has his own sinister plans which temporarily drive his half-brother Edgar (Christian Sullivan) mad. Edgar recovers, kills Edmund. True to tragic form, basically everyone else dies too.

Robert A. Pryor’s Lear is rigid and cinematic. He’s all bellows and moans, and his descent into madness is abrupt and murky. Carlita Penaherrara’s Cordelia exudes innocence. By contrast, April Sigman-Marx’s Regan is frothing and fearsome. Sasha Ilford presents a more subdued brand of evil as eldest sister Goneril. Saint Rasmund is a spark of light as the illegitimate Edmund and possesses the clearest understanding of the heavy, tragic circumstances enveloping him. Christian Sullivan’s Edgar is fascinating and fully physically connected, but he seems to be in an altogether different play. Ryan Lisman’s cuckcolded Oswald provides good fodder as Goneril’s steam-rolled husband. Anthony Feole’s overtly sinister Cornwall is so cartoonishly cunning that the scenario becomes farcical. Give him a mustache and he’ll twirl it.

The play, which has been sweepingly edited, is directed and largely designed by Denise Devlin. While she keeps the pace clipped, the production overall is less than cohesive. Sound cues are called at inappropriate times and the actors often speak over one another. Many of the more heavy, dramatic moments become unintentionally comedic. The swordfighting is clumsy and the actors are ill at ease with the weapons they wield. Costume design by Devlin and the Lear cast is generically Elizabethan.

King Lear at Zombie Joe’s Underground feels like a visit to your crazy uncle’s house —dramatic, quick and weirdly comforting.

Zombie Joe’s Underground Theatre, 4850 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood; Sun., 7 p.m.; Mon., 8 p.m.; through Dec. 17. (818) 202-4120 or zombiejoes.com. Running time: 90 minutes with no intermission.