King Lear - Week 1: "The Fragility of Authority and Family Bonds" - The Rehearsal Room - The Working Actor's Journey

Episode Transcript
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>> Nathan Agin (00:00):
I think we are all met and so we can get started.
And I'll do just some quick introductions and
housekeeping. But really the point is to turn it over
to all of you guys and get to work and have some fun.
Part of what I want to do is just have everybody go
around and introduce themselves because some may have worked together, may have
not. May have seen or heard or whatever. So this

(00:20):
would be a good chance for everybody to just
say a quick, introduction of,
you know, your career and you know, 50
words or less if, you know, because that, because it could go on all day
if, we let everybody talking about everything they've done
and maybe, you know, if you have any connections with the
Tingle, particularly First Folio work. I

(00:40):
think that would be interesting. And, you know, Annie has outlined what
she'd like to cover today and over the next few weeks.
but, I. I've met Thomas now, but for
everybody else, who does know me, but for those watching,
so I'm Nathan and I helped kind of create this
and produce this. And it's been a lot of fun
to continue to get back to this and have all these scenes
worked on by all these great people. So for those

(01:03):
watching, you're. You're in for a treat, another treat. And
one of the things I want to start doing is we do have a few
people supporting this. And right now it's kind of the. The
production costs of all that. So I just want to quickly go through the
names. We have Danielle and Ivar and Christian and
Jim and Joan and Kevin and Magdalene and Michelle.
Thank you. So for your support making. Making this

(01:23):
happen. And and yes, we welcome.
Welcome more support as. Because we want to grow this and
make it big and huge and profitable for everybody.
So, yes, I think. I think that's it for
me. One question.

>> Lizzie King-Hall (01:37):
Annie.

I did kind of late today email you a question
that Ivar had. So you have that you can
bring that up at any point that you think is. Is relevant
to the discussion. and I'll turn it
over to Annie and Randall and we can
just. Introductions.

>> Annie Occhiogrosso (01:55):
Great. Why don't I just start. I think
that the thing that I would most
like you to know, and if you don't know already, is that Randy and
I have worked together for going
on 53 years. We
founded our own theater, company called the
American Players Theater in Spring Green,
Wisconsin. But I think more importantly,

(02:17):
we shared, I'll just tell you
quickly that Randy was my makeup teacher in
college. And we found that we shared a Great
love for Shakespeare. And we would spend hours at night
on the phone discussing the plays.
And, and then eventually began to work.
He actually had me cut class. We would go over to a

(02:38):
little Chinese restaurant and eat while everybody else
was doing makeup, and
we shared ideas. We worked for 10
years on developing our own theater. He had worked at
so many regional theaters around the country. I had the
great privilege, and I wish other
people had this opportunity, but I

(02:58):
was allowed to sit in on every rehearsal and
every performance of every production he was part
of. And that gave me access to every regional
theater in this country. And I learned
something that's never taught in schools. I learned how to
listen. And then we developed a
way of working together that I would sit in the
audience, and after the show, I would feed back to

(03:20):
Randy and say to him, this is what I saw,
this is what I heard. And he would either say
to me, I wasn't going for that at all. And
then, I, would help him
develop his characters, and we would start to
examine the plays with that perspective. And that way
he never really had to watch himself act.

(03:40):
He always had eyes in the audience. And we felt
that when we had our own theater, we would try to extend
that. So what I bring to the table
is not. I'm not a conceptual
director. I don't put my stamp
on the, play. What I do is try
to understand. I'll do. We

(04:01):
study. For instance, we studied Hamlet for 14 years
before we actually did our own
production. So I learned the plays by
heart. And there are times when I direct. I know them
by heart. I don't have. Have to look down at a book. And so I'm
a resource, and I can feed back because
I believe theater is about the play and
the actor. And as a director, I want to guide

(04:23):
that play, those actors in that play. So that's sort
of the, the process. And then, Randy, I should turn it
over to you, because I think you can fill in
the rest of our life and your
own.

>> Randall Duk Kim (04:36):
Well, just. Just for me, this material,
particularly Shakespeare, since I was born speaking the
English language. It's my mother
tongue. That of all the writers that have
written for the theater, he wrote in English
and is considered the greatest that the
world has ever seen. As far as plays and
playwriting. I mean, for a man to come up with

(04:58):
tragedies and comedies and histories and
romances is outstanding. It's unheard
of in any writer. but his
use of the English language was and
continues to be of the highest order.
I call It. Soul food. What he
gives to actors is soul food.
Food for the soul. Not

(05:21):
just challenges for acting. But
how do you. How do you get to the depths of characters
that he's created? And he certainly created a
host of them.

>> Randall (05:31):
He.

He created over a thousand
characters, you know, let alone
multiple stories. So
it's been. It's an honor, ever. An honor,
to work with his material. That's what I
find. And it feeds. It feeds the deepest
part of my being whenever I come

(05:52):
into contact with what's required of
me, you know, in. In order for these
characters to live and breathe and,
you know, be in the world for a brief moment.

Randy, just a moment. About Morrison
directing you as King Lear, since King Lear is what
we're going to focus on.

Well, I had seen Morris Duke Shylock, when I was
18 years old, and that. That changed my
life. I had previously seen
productions of Hamlet and Oedipus
Rex, a few years earlier, and
that was a lot. Those were life changers.
But to see this man

(06:32):
be inhabited by a character was
a knockout. This was not just an actor
performing the role. This was an actor who
permitted that character to live and
breathe within him for the
time that he was on stage. And I said
to myself, damn, Kim, you want to be
an actor who. Well, you just found

(06:54):
yourself the model, the kind of actor
you gotta strive to be.
You must, I don't know, find
every means possible to become that kind of
actor where the character can live in, you can use
your voice, can use your body,
but where
you serve as the bridge

(07:17):
between an imaginary world and the world
of flesh and blood, you know,
so he put me on the path. He showed me
a light, and I knocked me out. His
Shylock. I had. I was a poor student,
had just a few shekels in my pocket. But with what
shekels I had left, I bought tickets to see
the show again. You know, I

(07:39):
couldn't. I couldn't believe my eyes, my
ears. My whole being was.
Was moved by what I saw.

Randy. King Lear, too. That's what I want you to talk
about.

At any rate, years and years later, we had
a chance to invite Morris and his
wife Phoebe to come out to our theater
to direct us in the plays. The first
play they directed was an early
Chekhov play, Ivanov. because we were doing
the plays in chronological order of composition
in order to understand Chekhov, we were doing

(08:13):
that, and they consented to do Ivanov.
And then about two years later, we again asked
them to, to come out and direct our Production of King
Lear, which he did. Besides
Shylock, Morris was also noted in the 60s
for his king Lear, which he took around the country. He
toured in it. M. so

(08:33):
his vision of it was, you know, his own.
What I did.

You know, he's being very modest. But let me just add to
it that it was to see these what I would
call titans in the American
classical theater. Seeing one
pass on his Lear to
the other was quite
exceptional. and I think that.

(08:59):
I hope that what we get out of our work with you
is some of what we learned
from him. Because I think, Randy,
your King Lear today is definitely
influenced by what. What he gave you and
then what you brought to it yourself.

That's right. That's right. what I did and
I made every effort to do was to almost
imitate him whenever he gave me a line
reading. Not to take offense, but to find out
where that reading of the line took me
emotionally, you know. So I tried it
out, which is an old Kabuki way of training, you know,
imitating the masters until you learn

(09:39):
what it's about and why that choice was made
and, you know, how it moves and what the music sounds
like. So I did that in working with Morris,
tried to imitate and discover
what did it do to me on the
inside. but now, of course, some
of that has fallen away. And I found my own
way to the line or the moment in the

(10:01):
play. So it's a combination. What I have now is a
combination of Morris, myself.
And there you have it, a
hybrid.

And I just want to interject.
That story never gets old. I've heard it a few times.
It's still exciting to hear you explain, that
Randy, probably
subconsciously hearing that story may have been
one of the genesis or
genesis of this project of having
a space where actors have

(10:34):
the time to really explore something
and see people who have been doing it
for decades. How do they work?
What questions are they bringing up so that
the next generation or the next couple of generations
of actors can really learn
through that process that had been around for, you

(10:55):
know, hundreds of years, but just has fallen off because
things have gotten so time compressed these days. And
so the fact that we can create
that. That kind of space on even a small
level, is very exciting as an observer.
And it seems like a lot of the participants have
enjoyed that.

>> Tom Farber (11:13):
But,

But, yeah, this used to be
a craft that really was kind of passed down.
And the younger repertory actors would just be
sitting or waiting in the wings. And how do
they do this? And so, yes, I
mean, I want to say that probably in
some part of my brain, I was remembering your experience

(11:33):
with Morris and Phoebe that, like, yeah, we got to be able
to do this. There must be a way we can do this, even on a small
scale. So.

I think that's what's missing, Nathan. You know,
I wish we had our craft,
had that idea of apprenticeship,
younger actors working with older actors
passing. But we don't have that structure. We have
schools maybe, you know, or
actors just get out there into the marketplace and try it on
their own. But it's nothing like

(12:05):
in, the Elizabethan theater. A kid would work from the
time he's a boy till the time he's an
adult with the master actor who would try
to teach him and share everything that he knew about the
craft, you know?

Yeah. And it's. It's even, you know,
morphed, you know, a couple. As you see the last week or a couple of
weeks, someone an actor watching started
asking about auditions and self tapes. And you have people who've
been, you know, in their 40s or 50s who are doing this, and
they have that knowledge they can pass on. So even if it isn't
the text approach or character

(12:39):
work, there are still all these other skills that actors who have
just been doing this for years can. Can share and pass on.

So.

So, yeah, I totally agree. And we could. We could probably
spend two hours just talking about all this stuff, but. But, But
no, it's. It's great. So thank you guys so much.

And it's a great segue to Thomas,
who we would consider one of our
apprentices. So, Thomas, you want to introduce
yourself and.

Yeah.

Hi.

Hi, everyone. My name is Tom Farber. I've been.
I kind of started acting on a whim
when I was, like, 15 years old.
Just auditioned for my high school play, found
out that, hey, this is something that I take
that I take in stride, and decided to make it into
a career. And then kind of

(13:27):
repeating history. I met Randy and Annie
and saw Randy perform, and I was like, well,
if I'm gonna be an actor, that's where I have to
go for my acting.
I met at sedentary as a
student when I was, like, 19 years old,
first with a, Merchant of Venice and a, Merchant

(13:47):
of Venice intensive. And then the next
semester, I took their King Lear intensive
and found myself falling in love, especially
with the character of Lear's fool.
And I've been working with Randy and Annie and really
trying to get a great
understanding of how to perform the character. How to

(14:07):
perform the character, what his role is within the story
and everything else.
So, yeah, that's what
I have to say about myself.

Great.

Thank you for being here, Tom. Really thrilled to have you join
us.

Glad to be here.

Jeanne. Wonderful, to see you again. It's
been a little bit of time, but Jeanne, do you want to go next?
Introduce yourself a little bit? Oh, you're just,
you're still, you're still, muted there. We can see
how excited you are. We just want to be able to hear it.

>> Jeanne Sakata (14:38):
Good to see you. Nathan, good to meet you, all.
Randy, good to see you again.

Great to see you.

Know, we're in, a group, the Performing Arts Legacy together,
where we create a, A, website of our
career. And Rand, I, have to tell you,
you're in. Your website is gorgeous. And I've
gotten so much inspiration from, from looking at
it. Thank you so much. And I, I told this
story in the group, which is when I was first starting
out as an actor, I had a stage

(15:05):
makeup book and I opened it up and I said, oh my
God, there's an Asian American actor in this book. And he's doing
like all these great classical roles. And
so he provided inspiration many, many years
ago when I was just starting out as an actor,
I started quite late. I was on my way
to, studying library,

(15:26):
ah. And information science. And I
saw. Oh, sorry. And I think
my husband's gonna get that. And I saw, a
production at UCLA where I was attending
of Godspell and my,
A friend Melinda Fong was in it. And I
was just knocked out. And I had
almost literally an out of body experience

(15:48):
watching her on stage. I said, I have to do
that. I don't know how to get there or
what I have to do, but I have to be on a stage
doing what Melinda is doing. It was such a
powerful spiritual,
experience. And so I started to.
I took an acting class in my senior year of
ucla and then I found my way

(16:11):
to East West Players, where I think you
perform too, right? Randall or
Chinaman.

>> Randall (16:18):
Yeah.

So I think they did it as players.

>> Randall (16:20):
Yeah, yeah.

And I, I went to a play called and the
Soul Shall Dance by Wakako Yamauchi, who is
of my mother and father's generation. It
was about this Japanese American farming
family in the Imperial Valley and
the hardships that they encounter
and hardships as immigrants.

(16:44):
I. As farmers. And
I was really knocked out again because I didn't know there
were plays, about
Japanese American farming families like
mine. And it was a life changing
experience. And I started out at East
West Players as an actor and eventually branched out to regional
theaters and fast

(17:07):
forward years later in the
1990s, I became a playwright
when I became obsessed with a story about
a young man named Gordon
Hirabayashi, who was a University
of Washington college student during World War II
after Pearl harbor was bombed and the orders came out
from the government to mass incarcerate all people

(17:28):
of Japanese ancestry on the West Coast. So Gordon
was a young student in his early 20s
who stood up to these orders and legally
challenged them and turned himself into the
FBI. And I was so
fascinated and enthralled, because I thought
it was wrong that I had grown up not knowing there was
someone like Gordon because my family had gone

(17:50):
through the camp experience. So I
sort of turned myself into a playwright
about Gordon. And the
play that resulted, hold these Truths has gone around the
country. We've been so blessed. We've had over,
20 productions, since
2007 when it premiered at East West
Players. So. But one thing I've

(18:13):
not been able to do, I'm sorry to say, and why I'm so happy to
be here today is do more
classical theater. I belong to a classical
theater company, MTS Company
here in Los Angeles, which Nathan has been
involved with as well. But
the way that my time has worked at it, I just
haven't been able to take part as much as

(18:36):
I like. I've always loved
Shakespeare and I've always hoped to do it more,
but I, I've done a little, but just
not nearly enough. And so I'm so happy
to be here today, especially with you,
Randall, and you Annie, to, to learn and just do
it for my soul's sake. And

(18:56):
I love this play, Kingler, so much. As I
get older, I see so much more
in it than I did of course, when I was younger.
And I feel so much for all
the characters really. I find as I'm older and
I, you know, am
experiencing more and more complications with my own

(19:16):
family situation. And
my father was a farmer
and had formed a, a farming company
with my uncles. and
as that was started by my grandfather, by my
immigrant grandfather. And as,
you know, time went on and it came from my
generation, the third generation American born

(19:38):
generation, to inherit what they had
built. There were all kinds
of conflict, arguments and
jealousies and, you know,
strategies to sort of outdo. And I
saw so much of my family
in this play, you know, what
was a loving family As I grew up,

(20:01):
became much more complicated and
much more treacherous in some ways. So I
felt that this play has always spoken deeply to
me.

Great. Yeah.

Thank you so much, Jeanne, for sharing all that. thank you.
Yeah. And Lizzie, welcome back. thrilled to see you
again.

Thank you so much. I'm glad to be back.
Randy and Annie. I
feel like I don't have anything to say compared to everyone else. I
am a New York
experience. Performing Shakespeare goes back about 20 years,
starting in graduate school, like everybody.

(20:41):
And now I do,
I mean, a lot of different. I
work, a lot with pretty
conceptual companies,
lots, of devised choral
pieces, physical pieces.
Right now, for a year, I've been working with a

(21:03):
director who's doing a devised
piece of the Charlottesville white supremacist trial.
so it's so refreshing.
As much as I love all doing all of that,
to get back to discussions like
Randy and Annie
and gender about just having

(21:24):
it between you and the text
and
not, like the value, not being on making
it real, but making it true.
and yeah, I mean, for some.
Some of us, those. Those Shakespeare
opportunities are, fleeting.

(21:45):
So I really, yeah. Treasure.
Treasure this opportunity like everybody else.

That's great to see you.

Thank you. We were so happy to hear you,
Both of you. We were so happy to hear that both of you were
joining us to tell it. When we. When Nathan told us,
we were thrilled because we had. Because we knew
Jeannie from, of course, the pal
situation. And Lizzie, we had started with
Reagan early on, you know, with Nathan. So
it's just great to have you both join us.

Thank you.

Very cool. All right, well, I will pop off. You may see
me come and go a little bit. I'll try to. Try to pop in at the very end, but
have I have a wonderful time. and yeah, enjoy. Enjoy
the time together.

Great, thanks.

Thank you, Nathan.

So I. I thought the best way to start is to just. Let's read
that scene that we're going to do. okay.
Just to hear it and, you know,
and we'll open it up after that to any kinds of
just technical questions, pronunciate any of that
stuff. But. But really what I'd like to do
is to remind us that

(22:52):
that's what we're focusing on, and then go back
to some of the earlier scenes for the
circumstances that lead up to it and stuff that
may impact where people are coming
from by time they reach that scene.
you know, it's always so Randy and I like to. When we work
scenes we always like to take something from the beginning of the
play. But we were so. It's.

(23:15):
So we're so intrigued with Regan
and, Goneril that we wanted to
see something with them and Lear
other than the very first scene, you know,
and so that's why we moved to a later
part of the play. Randy, did you want to say
anything? You should also know, because we've been
together so long, that

(23:37):
idea. The idea of who's the
director and who you know, I won't. I won't
act Lear. That I can guarantee you. But I will tell
you that at any given time, Randy will pipe
in with, should we call it an opinion.
And we're very. We're very used to working that
way, so. So, Randall, what would you like to

(23:59):
say? Anything?

No, no,
no.

>> Randall (24:05):
I have nothing to say.

Okay, so then let's just.

We can just dive in, thrash around
with it. no, no big thing. Just to get a feel of
what the scene consists of, you know, just to get
a sense of it. And Thomas will
read Cornwall.

And we're starting with good morrow to you both.

Yeah. Lear has tried to see
Reagan and Cornwall, and they've denied him.
And now they're. They're making their
entrance. They're conceding
to see him.
So enter Cornwall, Regan,
Gloucester, servants.

(24:47):
Good morrow to you both.

Hail to your grace.

I am glad to see your highness.

>> Randall (24:53):
Regan, I think you
are. I know what reason I have to
think so.

If thou shouldst not be glad,
I.

>> Randall (25:02):
Would divorce me from thy mother's tomb,
sepulchering and adulteress.
Are you free?

And that's to cl. That's to Kent,
who's been put in the stocks, but he's been
freed now. And, Lear sees him
and he says, are you free? Well, some other time for
that.

>> Randall (25:22):
Beloved Regan, thy
sister's naught.
Regan, she hath tied
sharp toothed unkindness like a
vulture here. Here
I can scarce speak to thee. Thou
wilt not believe with how depraved a

(25:43):
quality. O Regan.

I pray you, sir, take patience.
I have hope you less know how to value her
desert than she to scant her duty.

>> Randall (25:56):
Say, how's that?

I cannot think my sister in the least would
fail her obligation.
If, sir, perchance, she
have restrained the riots of your
followers. Tis on such ground
and to such wholesome end as
clears her from all blame.

>> Randall (26:18):
My curse is on her.

sir, you are old. Nature in
you stands on the very verge of his
confine. You should be
ruled and led by some
discretion that Discerns your
state better than you
yourself. That to you
do make return, Say.

>> Randall (26:39):
You have wronged her,
ask her forgiveness.
Do you but mark how this becomes the house.
Dear daughter, I confess that I'm
old. Age is unnecessary. On
my knees I beg that you'll vouchsafe me
raiment, bed and food.

Good sir, no more. These are unsightly
tricks. Return you to my sister.

>> Randall (27:07):
Never. Regan. She hath abated me of
half my train, looked black
upon me, struck me with her tongue, most
serpent like, upon the very heart.
All the stored vengeances of heaven
fall on her ingrateful top. Strike her
young bones, you taking airs with

(27:28):
lameness.

Fie, sir, fie.

>> Randall (27:30):
You nimble lightnings dart your blinding
flames into her scornful eyes, infect
beauty. You fen suck fogs, drawn by
the powerful sun to fall and blister
the blest gods.

So you will wish on me when the rash mood is on.

>> Randall (27:47):
Oh, no, no, Regan. Thou
shalt never have my curse. Thy
tender, hefty nature shall not give oar to
harshness.
Her eyes are fierce but thine to
comfort and, not burn. Tis not in
thee to grudge my pleasures, to

(28:07):
cut off my train, to bandy
hasty words, to scant my
sizes, and, in conclusion, to oppose
the bolt against my coming in. No,
thou better knowest the offices of nature,
bond of childhood, effects of
courtesy, dues of

(28:27):
gratitude. Thy half of the
kingdom hast thou not forgot, wherein I thee
endow'd, good.

Sir, to the purpose.

>> Randall (28:37):
Who put my man in the stocks?

What trumpet's that?

I note my sisters. This approves her
letter, that she would soon be here. Is your
lady come?

>> Randall (28:50):
This is a slave, whose
easy borrow'd pride dwells in the sickly
grace of her. He follows out
varlet from my sight. What means
your grace, who
stalk'd my servant Regan? I have good hope
thou didst not know on't. Who

(29:10):
comes here. Ah, heaven.
If you do love old men, if your sweet sway
allow obedience, if you yourselves are
old, make it your cause. Send
down and take my part.
Art not ashamed to look upon this
beard?

(29:32):
Regan, will you take her
by the hand?

Why not by the hand, sir? how have I offended
o't not offence that indiscretion
finds, and dotage terms so
aside?

>> Randall (29:46):
You're too tough. Will you yet hold?
How came my man in the
stocks?

I set him there, sir, but his
disorders deserve much less advancement.

>> Randall (29:59):
You did you, I
pray you, father.

Being weak, seem so, if
till the expiration of your month you will Return
and sojourn with my sister, dismissing
half your train. Come then to me. I
am now from home, and out of that provision which shall be
needful for your entertainment.

>> Randall (30:20):
Return to her, and
50 men dismiss'd.
No, rather I abjure, ah, all
roofs, and choose to wage against the
enmity of the air, to be a comrade with a
wolf and owl, Necessity's sharp
pinch. Return with her.
By the hot blooded France that dowerless took

(30:43):
our youngest born, I could as well be brought to knee
his throne and squire like a
pension beg, to keep base foot alert
afoot. Return with her. Persuade
me rather to be slave and sumpter to this
detested groom.

At your choice, sir.

>> Randall (31:02):
I prithee, daughter, do not make me mad.
I will not trouble thee, my child.
Farewell. We'll no more meet,
no more see one another.
But, yet thou art my
flesh, my blood,
my daughter, or rather

(31:24):
a disease that's in my flesh, which
I needs must call mine.
Thou art a boil, a plague
sorer, an embossed carbuncle in my corrupted
blood. But I'll not chide
thee, let shame come when it will. I do
not call it. I do not bid the thunder

(31:44):
bearers shoot, nor tell tales of thee to high
judging. Jove mend when thou canst
be better at thy leisure. I can be
patient. I can stay with Regan.
Ay, and my hundred knights.

Not altogether so. I looked not
for you yet, nor am provided for your
fit welcome. Give ear, sir, to
my sister, for those that mingle reason with your
passion must be content to think you old
and so, but she knows what she
does.

>> Randall (32:17):
Is this well spoken?

I dare avouch. Ah, it, sir. What, 50
followers? Is it not well?
What should you need of more? Yea, or
so many sit, that both charge and
danger speak gainst so great a number. How in
one house should many people under two commands
hold amity? Tis hard, almost impossible.

Why might not you, my lord, receive attendance from
those that she calls servants, or from mine?

I not, my lord. If then they chance to slack
ye, we could control them. If you will come to me,
for now I spy a danger. I entreat you to bring
but 5 and 20. To no more
will I give place or notice.

>> Randall (32:58):
I gave you all, and in good.

Time you gave it.

>> Randall (33:02):
Made you my guardians, my
depositaries, but kept a
reservation to be followed with such a number.
What, must I come to you
with 5 and 20? Regan,
said you so?

And speak'd again, my lord. No more with me.

>> Randall (33:24):
Those wicked creatures yet do look well
favoured. When others are more wicked,
not being the worst, stand in some rank of
praise. I'll go with thee.
Thy fifty yet. Ah doth double five and twenty, and thou
art twice her love.

Hear me, my lord.
What need you 5 and 20,
10, or 5 to follow in
a house where twice so many have a command to tend
you?

What need one.

Reason?

>> Randall (33:55):
not need
basest beggars are in the poorest things
superfluous. Allow not nature more
than nature needs. Man's life is cheap
as beasts. Thou art a
lady. If only to go warm were
gorgeous. Why, nature needs not what thou
gorgeous wearest, which scarcely keeps thee

(34:18):
warm. But for true need.
Ah. Heavens, give me patience.
Patience I need. You
see me here, you gods. Poor
old man,
full of grief as age
wretched and both. If it be you that

(34:40):
stirs these daughters hearts against their father,
fool me not so much to bear it
tamely. Touch me with noble
anger, and let not women's
drops stain my man's cheeks.
No, you unnatural hags.
I will have such revenges on you

(35:01):
both that all the world
shall. I will do
such things. What they are yet I know
not, but they shall be the terrors
of the earth. You think
I'll weep? No, I'll not
weep. I have full cause of weeping. But
this heart shall break into a hundred

(35:24):
thousand flaws or air
hype.
Fool. I shall go
mad.

We'll stop it there.
Good.
Okay. So let me just
hear what your feelings are. What.
What you. Just. Your overall
thoughts about the scene itself.
Wow.

I feel like I. I'm doing the same thing over and
over again. That it's. I
know part of it is,
yes, I can. No, you can't. Yes, I can. No, you can't.
But I definitely.
It's so hard because sometimes I feel like I don't understand the
play because I'm so on the daughter's side.

(36:14):
And, like, I feel like I.

>> Randall (36:16):
And you should be.

Like. When. You definitely have to, like, add the
violence because then you're like, oh, yeah, okay, they're
sick. But,
yeah, it's an argument. And I need to find
for myself how it builds.

Right, right. And I think that
what you want to start to look. I don't know how. How
well you guys know the play. That's why I thought we would read some of
the earlier scenes. But
everything. All of this, has to
come from what led up to it.
And we will look at that Goneril and Regan

(36:53):
scene after Lear leaves in the
first act, where Goneril tries to
urge Regan to do Something, and they talk
about the father's disposition, because I
think that what we need to see is
that progression, what brought us
here. All right. and I think there

(37:13):
are other elements along. The two girls
are coming from two different
places. Goneril has already
experienced Lear's wrath.
He went with her. For the first month,
you've been free and breezy. I mean, you
know, you've been enjoying your little coronet, should we

(37:35):
say, having a good time with Cornwall. You know, I mean,
there's just no father there to interfere.
And then you get this letter from your sister,
and you realize he's coming,
your way. so you leave.
You're not even home. You're. You
leave to come here. And who shows

(37:55):
up? Who follows you? Kent finds that out. He
comes, and Lear follows him. So there's no
escaping. So what? I would suggest Lizzie
to start to look at the things she says the
most. And I think you're going to find that,
she says it about four times, I believe.
Return you to my sister.
That's her whole goal. Get him

(38:18):
to go back to Goneril. Listen,
Goneril and Regan are about
to oppose each other in a war.
Yeah, over their kingdoms. All right? They
don't like each other, you know.
However, they have a common enemy right
now, and that enemy is Lear, because he's the
one person who can reverse everything and

(38:41):
take back that crown. So
they join. They're going to join forces to
get rid of the common enemy. Then they'll go
and. And deal with their, you know, the
opposition towards each other. So I
think the first. So. So the thing that I want you
to keep looking at, and this is for
everybody. Look at what a character

(39:03):
says more than once.
Morris Karnofsky, when he did, Shylock, and he's
written a wonderful acting book called the Actor's
Eye. But one of the things he talks about is when
he did Shylock, and he was doing the speech
to Antonio about, you spit on me,
you call me dog. You know, that whole speech.

(39:23):
He looked at the speech and he said
three times, Antonio.
Shylock reminds Antonio that he
spat on him. He voided his room.
So that. That speech is about, this is what
you have done to me. And
he said to always look for those. Those

(39:44):
patterns in a character's
speech that repeats itself. You know,
it's like now, as I said, with those kids all doing
Romeo and Juliet, Romeo goes on and on
about fate scaring him. What.
What lies ahead, you know, that. That he feels
his. There's Something in the stars that, you

(40:04):
know, are somehow going to do some harm to
him or he's not going to live. He's not going
to survive. He's not. It's just terrible things. He says
it over and over and over. We avoid
it. Why? Because we're all trying
to, show that it's the greatest love
story ever told. So all of that stuff goes out the
window, and we focus on. He's a lover. He's a lover.

(40:27):
So what you want to do is just start to look closely at the
text, and I would say, for
Regan to, ask the
question, what can you do
to make him go back to Goneril?
Because you do it in the very first moments.
The very first thing you say to
him, I believe,

(40:48):
is, I'm sure that my
sister would never slack
her duty that it if. And that your
knights must have been unruly, because, Sheena, you would
never have said that about Goneril.
Do you see what I mean? You have to have a purpose in.
In saying you're saying it because

(41:10):
the only way you're going to get on with your share
of the kingdom is to get him to go back
to her. And you have to use every
possible means to do that. And you have the dialogue
to do that. The other thing that I want to point out
is how can you
make Lear change his mind?

(41:30):
I know so many productions where these women are done
as harridans. From the beginning of the play,
everybody's decided they're evil. And so
let's just, you know, put mustaches on them and let them
twist the edge. But that's not
the point. That, look, there's no difference between the
action of lying and telling the truth.

(41:51):
None. The action is the same. Convince the person
of what you want them to believe.
So what you. What you're feeling in your
heart has nothing to do with what you
have to do to get what you
want. So my suggestion now, the next
time through would be start to treat
him as if he's fragile

(42:13):
and that you love him dearly and you're doing this
for his sake.

M. Okay.

All right. You know, when Jeannie, you
were talking about your family, I think
that all of us, when we get to. To this
age, around this age,
that same thing happens. We look back. All you have to
do, I think, is understand what it's like to go through
a funeral. When somebody dies

(42:38):
in a family, the nicest people on
earth become greedy.
All of a sudden. It becomes with who loved who
more and why. Can't I have the ring?
And why can't you know? so
I think Shakespeare presents that
also in this play. And what
makes it tragic is the one person who got the ball

(43:01):
going was Lear,
which, Randy, which made me think today listening
to you, that the thing
too that I find about
Lear is
he has to carry that
understanding that it is
his fault or he's

(43:22):
participated. So when he scolds
them, when he turns on them, he
still carries, a sense
of I shouldn't have done
this, I shouldn't have done it. Kent warned him
about it.

Yeah.

You know, and you have that scene earlier with the fool
where he said, I did her wrong.
So I think that even when
we've seen people do this, when they strike
out, it's as much,
realizing that they're wrong that they strike
out because they can't

(43:57):
change what they've done. Not
necessary. Now that doesn't get Goneril off the
hook. Goneril has made up her
mind that, the two of them
cannot exist under one roof. I mean, you had
the taste of the municipality
and you have that confrontation, of
course, in the earlier speech. And he

(44:19):
cursed your womb. Yeah,
I don't. I. I'm not sure there's anything
worse for a father to do to. A daughter.
And it hurts, it stings, and it
stays with you. So again, the
bitterness comes from a motivation.
I, think something that's totally unexpected. I think it's true of

(44:42):
Lear too. He gave the
daughters everything. He gave
up the throne.
You don't give up the kingship. You don't give it to your
God. Anoint. You're anointed by God. You don't give it
up. But he did it.
And we can talk about why later. But, but my, My
point is, look, put

(45:05):
yourself in the shoes of. Have you ever given
something that's wonderful to somebody and then they don't call
you back to say thank you? Just on that little
level? Hell, I bake cookies every Christmas
for my nieces and I never get a thank you. I go,
that's it. I'm never baking another cookie. I don't
care. They hate me, you know, and so
now put, put replace my cookies with a

(45:27):
kingdom. I mean, I think the
expectation is, is for
a lot of, love and respect and,
and those nights mean everything. I think
we have to be careful in understanding. You have to
understand. Look, the thing that happens in the first scene
also. And I will stop talking, I promise. But

(45:48):
the thing that happens in the first scene Is
that that word? Nothing comes up
with Cordelia. Nothing. He
says to her, he says, what can you say to get a.
Ah, a piece larger? And she says nothing. He says,
nothing. She says, nothing. He says, nothing
will come of nothing. Speak again. Well,

(46:09):
you are reducing him to
nothing. You're taking
away the only thing he has
that still is a remnant of being
king.

Yeah, that's hard to connect with. The knights thing
is, hard to
fill.
And it's just something important to him.

Take away your father's car keys
all that time.

You're old.

I can still drive. Yeah. And
it's the same thing. She, her argument is.
Her argument is dangerous. This
is dangerous to you too, because
you're. We can take care of it. We have
nights. You don't need that.
That's exactly right. I'll drive you. You need to go

(46:59):
somewhere. I'll drive you.

That's it. Yeah, that's it.

It's all human. It really is, human.
And so I think too, I just want to
address one of the things. When you said that you may be
misinterpreting the play because
you feel on the side of the
daughters. I think Shakespeare, the
art of Shakespeare. And I think it's why
I question

(47:31):
directors who want to
impose their vision on a play. I
get it. It's the world we live in. I get it. And
some directors are brilliant at it. I mean, sometimes they
put something on it that is
wonderful. But I think that what Shakespeare has
done in that statement in Hamlet about holding
a mirror up to nature.

(47:53):
He allows you to come to see
this and be who you are,
to see what you see. I'm
the middle daughter in my. With my
three sisters. I used to write cards to my
father that said all my love.
And I read Lear. I stopped writing it

(48:14):
and now I. And then I. He's gone now. But I,
I just wrote with much
love or I love you, daddy. I
had to get rid of it because. Because
even on that small level and we, you know, we do, we
laugh at it, we think, well, yeah, but you. What does that.
Well, I'll tell you. Years later,

(48:34):
my father. I went off with Randy to Hawaii and my
father was. Wanted me home. We weren't married at the
time. my father said, who do you love
more? And I
said, don't ask because you're not going
to like the answer.
And I love my father and my father loved me.

(48:55):
So I think Shakespeare is managed by who
holding that mirror up to say, who are You.
What do you feel
about that character Lear? I
told Randy this the other day.
He's impossible. He's
impossible. I mean, I have a grandmother that. My
sister.

Life.

Yeah, that's right. So whatever. And he's coming
from his place. It's this. But again,
look what he says to them. He. He. He just, you
know, goes off into curses. And they're. And
they're large, mythic
curses. Nature. He brings down
nature and all that, you know. So, So I

(49:37):
think that we have to at least see
what happens when you put
power
into the wrong hands.
Ultimately, that's going to be the question because, look,
I don't. I hope it wouldn't. I would
have not been led down a path where I would kill my. Throw
my father out into a storm. I think

(49:59):
hopefully I would have never allowed that to happen. But
these girls do progress to
an evil based
on, wanting more and
more and more. And so we have to look at
their behavior after this scene. And, for me, it
happens when you send an old man of 80 years old

(50:20):
out into us, he's no longer king. He's no longer. You
wouldn't do it to your father and you wouldn't do it
to your dog. You
know, so that. Become. The play does take a
turn, I think, after this scene.
Makes sense. Everybody am I. It's good.
Can we take a look at the first

(50:41):
scene? Randy, I'd like you to tell them
about your darker purpose. Beginning of, you know,
act one, when Lear and everyone enters.
And I'd like to do it with the two
expressions of love that the daughters give
forth to the father.

We're going back to scene one then?

Yes, please.

>> Randall (51:02):
You don't mind, do you?

By the way, I will get back to Gonel. I haven't forgotten you, but I just
want to fill this information.

Oh, no, no. So I'm just trying to find.
Okay, got it.
And that's the two speeches by
Gonerill and.

Yes, so. So we're going to start with Lear.

M. I love. This is how I love you. That section.

Yes, that's right.

And we'll stop before Cordelia speaks.

That's right.

What's the line number on the folio?

I don't have line numbers in my folios.
So it starts with. It's. It's right at
the end.

Meantime, we shall express.

Yes, yes, got it.

Yes, thanks.

>> Randall (51:50):
Meantime we shall express our darker
purpose. Give me the map there.
Know that we have divided in three our
kingdom. Tis our fast
intent to shake all cares and business from our
age, conferring them on younger
strengths, while we,
unburdened crawl toward death.

(52:14):
Our son of Cornwall, and you a no
less loving son of Albany. We have
this hour a constant will to publish our
daughter several dowers that
future strife may be prevented now.
The princes France and Burgundy, great rivals
in our youngest daughter's love, long in our court, have

(52:36):
made their amorous sojourn, and here to be
answered.
Tell me, my daughters,
since now we will divest us both of
rule, interest of territory,
cares of state, which of
you shall we say doth love us

(52:56):
most? That we our, largest
bounty may extend where nature doth
with merit challenge.
Goneril, eldest born,
speak first.

Sir.

I love you more than word can wield the matter.
Dearer than eyesight, space and
liberty, beyond what can be
valued rich or rare, no
less than life with grace,
health, beauty, honor, as much
as child ever loved or
father found. A love that makes breath

(53:33):
poor and speech unable
beyond all matter of so much
I love you.

shall Cordelius speak, love,
and be silent.

>> Randall (53:47):
All these bounds, even from this
line to this, with shadowy forests
and with champaigns rich with plenteous rivers
and wide skirted meads, we make thee
lady. To thine and Albany's
issues be this perpetual.
What says our second daughter? A

(54:09):
dearest Regan, wife of Cornwall?

I am, made of that self metal as
my sister, and prize me at her
worth in my true heart I
find she names my very deed of love.
Only she comes too
short that I profess
myself an enemy
to all other joys which

(54:36):
the most precious square of sense
professes, and find I
am alone felicitate in your dear
highness Love.

Poor Cordelia. Yet not
so, since I am sure my love's more
ponderous than my tongue.

>> Randall (54:55):
To thee and thine hereditary ever
remain this ample third of our fair
kingdom, no less in space, validity
and pleasure than that conferred on
Goneril
now our joy,
although last and least, to
whose young love the vines of France and milk of

(55:18):
Burgundy strive to be interest.
What can you say to draw a third more
opulent than your sisters.

Speak good.
okay, so let's look at what you've.
How you've expressed your love.
Goneral, you say that he
is more dear than
your eyesight, than space
and freedom, more than life
itself, is nothing as dear to

(55:49):
you as your father. And what's
interesting, I think, is that you also
say that I love you more than
any child could ever boast of loving
a father. And what you did there, by the way, is
you've just cut out all other
children getting a better piece of the kingdom than
you. I'm the best

(56:11):
child. I love the best of all children.

And I'm the eldest.

Yeah. Okay.
And what's interesting also love
that makes breath poor and speech
unable. Keep that thought,
Jeanne, because
we're going to see if that holds true when she confronts him
in the next act

(56:36):
here, she says it's I love you. So I'm speech
like, I can't speak.

M. Wow, that's great.
Yeah.

The other thing I do want to point out, we'll get into text
work next. Next week, but here's. I think
you'll love this moment if you count
the number of beats in Our eldest born
speak first. Our
eldest born speak first.
Right. You have four empty beats

(57:08):
there. What, I would suggest
is. Is he catches you by surprise.

Yes. I was thinking that as I
was listening to it, I. You know, I didn't
know. I mean, I. I'm. I'm
assuming. I didn't know he was going to spring this love
contest. And so I've got a
scramble. Oh, my God. he's called me first.
And I felt like all the strategy was
going in my head.

Yep.

You know what? Ah.

And yet.

Oh, my God. You know, I didn't have time to prepare.
I have to really gush, and I have to really.

You're up first. Right,
Right. But I think that feeling you have
about, oh, my God, you can
infuse her expression of
love by pulling
the right thing out rather than too
confidently
expressing it. Okay, you see what I mean? It needs to

(58:06):
be truth. He's got to convince him. But you still
are, working on your feet.
Yes, that's right. Because
he has chose you first. Now, of course,
Regan gets to hear
what she says, and she's going.
She's going to. Can you top this?

I just hated that moment when she said, but she
falls short. It's like my heart
sank.

That's right. Now, here's
the other thing. Look at what you say. She
comes too short. I profess myself an
enemy to all other joys.
which the most precious square of sense prevents
a time, you know, the tiniest expression
of joy, and I'm only

(58:52):
happy with your love.
Okay. Does that hold
true in that scene we're doing?

Right.

Makes you happy. So here's
what's on the line.

But he bought it.

Yes. And what's wonderful is he bought it
because all you have to play is that
love, both of you. You don't have to play
harridan. You don't have to play evil
sisters. You play. Play the two best
sisters, obedient to the queen, the king, who
loves him with all your heart. And let
Cordelia be the one who

(59:32):
says nothing, my lord.
So we start the play off, and it's Kent who
ultimately, by the way, I just want to add this, is that
Kent does not call what
Lear. He doesn't step in now. He only
steps in when Cordelia is banished.
He and he know. And the other thing I think you already

(59:53):
know. The kingdom's already been divided.
Yeah, he did that already. And the
question I would ask, for instance, Goneral,
when you. When he tells you the portion of
the kingdom you're going to get, how
do you know if it's the best?

>> Jeanne Sakata (01:00:10):
Yeah, I mean, that's why my mind was so
active during this whole scene,
because. Okay,
so. Oh, okay, I'm getting a third. Well,
that looks pretty great,
but it's a third. And
if Reagan does better, is she going to get more than a

(01:00:30):
third? I mean, I don't know the rules
of this.

>> Annie Occhiogrosso (01:00:34):
That's right.

That makes me very anxious. At the same time, I'm
relieved that I am getting a third.
And I mean, it's described so beautifully,
you know, but again,
I'm feeling grateful and relieved
and excited that I'm inheriting this. But
then it's still a contest, so who's gonna. Is

(01:00:55):
someone gonna do better than I am and get better
land than I can't be the best
changes mind and say, no, Reagan, you
were better. Your love is. Is more.
And. And so I'm gonna. Maybe you can have
this one.

Here's the thing. It's a setup.
It's a setup because it's all being done so
that Cordelia can marry the, Have the best
marriage. That's why he's doing it.
He's saving that. No, no,
no, they don't. But, all I'm saying is that the reason you're
feeling. Do I have the best? Don't I have
the been? What just happened is because.

(01:01:36):
Because it doesn't really have rhyme or reason. This
is Lear trying to solve the problem
and. And make, it a win for
everybody. So. So
there is. That's there. And the same thing will happen with what
the portion that he offers you. So his
expectation is that Cordelia will give the
best love speech ever, and therefore

(01:01:58):
she'll get the best, you know, piece of
the kingdom. So you're all. So I think you're right
there is a sense of confusion. If
he's given you your. Your portion of the
kingdom, then there are two portions left,
which is the best.

>> Lizzie King-Hall (01:02:14):
And also, the contest doesn't make sense if you
give the prize out before the other people have
competed.

That's exactly right.
right. Yeah.

We also make reference to his, you know,
his changeable nature. I mean,
we. This first scene
play. But I can't help but think that
he's already had displays of
this. And I don't think that
he. He seems so.
So, What's the word? Something like changeable, but

(01:02:47):
it's more mercurial.
And if that's part of his personality,
if that's always been a part of his personality that he
says this now, my stepmother was like this.
She would, you know, would say, oh, here's something for
you, a gift. And then if we didn't
do something right, she said, I'm taking that

(01:03:08):
back. And so you were never sure
whether. Yeah, you were never
sure. Like, she would go into the closet. If she buys a dress
or something for us, she would go into the closet. I'm taking this
back. You didn't clean the toilet. Right. You know, and so
I, I always. I felt this. Maybe this is just
me, but I just felt this kind of insecurity.
Like, oh, I'm getting this beautiful piece of land, but am

(01:03:31):
I. Am I really? There's two more sisters to go.

And what you're describing. And we will move on to
that next scene. What you're describing is exactly
what Goneril fears, that he
is so changeable he could change his
mind. We're going to see more
behavior like this. And you say. I think
it's Regan who says he seldom has known himself.

(01:03:55):
So there are things about Lear's personality. I
think that. So I think you're right in the right place. That our
quest. That. How secure can you
feel? and the fact that, again,
when this confrontation happens with
Cordelia and she's out of the
picture and he takes the
dowry away from Burgundy and France takes her

(01:04:17):
without, you know, and he's
enraged with Cordelia,
how secure can any of us feel about him?
You know? So I think you're in the right place to feel
that insecurity. That's why I say I
caution against deciding that
they already have a plot to kill

(01:04:37):
him or to get rid of him. You don't have.
You can let the play unfold step by step.

Yes, because that makes sense to me.
As we experience more of his,
cruelty, you know, like cursing Me and you
know that I feel like there is a
progression that, you know, we can start off as like you
said, and the loving daughters, you know,
or at least we're trying to play that role,

(01:05:03):
you know, and then as he becomes more
unhinged, I mean, to my perspective
and, and attack me for what
I think it seems are reasonable
things that I'm saying to him,
that, it's almost like. And
that coupled with the fact that I have some
power now, you know, it's like I've always

(01:05:25):
obeyed you. I've always had to obey you. I've
always taken whatever you dished out
and this is the line I'm gonna draw. And now
I'm in charge, you know, So I
love, I love that idea of progression
because I've often seen Donald Reagan played, you
know, like you said, and just evil from the
beginning and, and I love the idea that they could become

(01:05:47):
more flesh and blood daughters that are,
experiencing that it's the.

Events that hap that that will unfold.
Then we can go back later as an audience
member and think, wow, was she
lying when she said she loved him? Because. But we
all do it. You see. I think that's what's so important
is we all say things like a
Hallmark card like, you know,
but do our actions

(01:06:13):
show that in the end? You
know, So I think that we're, we're all in
a very good place. But I wanted you to see what your
promises are so you can see down the
road whether or not your whole. By any
of it.

>> Randall Duk Kim (01:06:29):
I think what attracts us to Shakespeare too, is that
where we watch characters make
decisions, take actions
step by step in,
kind of working out their destinies.
You know, some people step by step
go down a bad route. Others

(01:06:50):
go maybe a happier route, like in a comedy or
something. But in a tragedy, we watch these
people step by step create
a whirlpool for themselves in which
everybody's going to get caught and
die, you know, and
cruelties will manifest themselves. But

(01:07:11):
every step of the way we watch them make those
decisions and entertain those
thoughts and perhaps not meaning
to, not meaning to go that way, but
they do.

I think it's why I always.
Look, I, I
believe the theater could
help with the chaos we're in
right now. That's how much faith I have in the
theater. But as long as we see it as purely
entertainment and a means to fill seats,

(01:07:44):
and we'll do anything to get that done, and
we don't understand how
this is a reflection on who we
are. We offer you an opportunity to come
into a space, sit next to an
absolute stranger and
see myself with having to. Not having to

(01:08:04):
reveal who I am. But I can sit in the
theater and
reflect on my behavior
without being accused, without being right
or left, without being
whatever, you know, group we
belong to, but just me
and I watch. And I, as you, Jeanne,

(01:08:27):
see your family in this
play, and I see my family.
there's this other side of the play also that
has to do with old age, and we are
heading there. I have a sister who tells me her. And,
ah, we talked about the car keys, that her kids
now have switched positions.
And so here's Lear, who is not only old,

(01:08:49):
he's a kid. He was a king.
And so now we have to see it from his
perspective of what he's given
and what, what he's given
up, you know, who he
is. And if you think for a minute that only
he is subject to, rage,

(01:09:10):
I, think you're sadly mistaken. I mean, I know I've been there
on a number of occasions, but.
But again, each one of these
characters is coming from a
circumstance that lead them.
But it's their nature. Again, in. In the
end, it's their nature. I don't want to. I don't want to let the.
Everybody off the hook by saying, oh, these were really

(01:09:33):
nice girls. And if he, you know, he should have just
minded his own business and let them be. If they
were really nice girls, then in Act 3 and act,
4, they would. They would have been nice girls, too. They
would have found a way around. But they make
choices that shape
who they are. Okay, And. And I,
You know, we won't get to that part of the play, but let's face

(01:09:56):
it, one sister poisons the other,
you know, so. Okay, so can
we just take a look at the scene between the two girls
after Lear has banished Cordelia?
And that would be.

(01:10:22):
It's right after Lear's exit, if you want
to.
Oh. Uh-huh. You see where he says, come
Burgundy.

Come, noble Burgundy.

Yes.

France has their.

That's right. and Thomas, since your
Cordelia is so lovely.

>> Tom Farber (01:10:45):
Thank you.

It was very nice. I appreciated it. So.
So. France says, bid farewell to your sisters. Thomas,
if you would do that jewel speech. And then girls will go right into
the next.

>> Tom Farber (01:10:56):
Yes, the
jewels of our father with washed eyes,
Cordelia leaves you. I know you what
you are and like a sister most love
to call your faults as they are named love.
Well, our father to your Professed.
Bosoms, I commit him. But, alas,

(01:11:16):
stood I within his grace, I would prefer him to a
better place. So farewell to you
both.

Prescribe not us our duty.

Let your study be to content your lord
who hath received you at fortune's arms.
You, have obedience scanted. And well are worth the
want that you have wanted.

>> Tom Farber (01:11:37):
Time shall unfold what plight of cunning hides,
who covers faults at last with shame
derides.

Well may m you prosper, my fair
Cordelia.

It is not little I have to say of what most nearly
appertains to us both. I think our
father will hence tonight.

I'm sorry. I always forget. Do I say with us.

What? What?

It's above, it's below. I'm 18 again.

Is.

Is the. With us? My next line.

That's most certain. And with you.

But there's. Does
it say with us? Am I the only person who has
that?

Yeah.

Next month with us. It's above.
That's most certain. And with you. Next month with us.

That's right.

Oh, yeah.

That's the way it goes.

That's most certain. And with you. Next
month with us.

You see how full of changes his age is.
The observation we have made of it hath not been
little. He always loved
our sister most. And with what poor judgment he
had now cast her off.

Appears too grossly is the infirmity of
his age. Yet he hath ever but slenderly
known himself.

The best and soundest of his time hath been but
rash. Then must we look from his
age to receive not alone the imperfections of long
engraft condition, but there with all the
unruly waywardness that infirm and choleric
years bring with them.

Such unconstant starts are we like to have
from him as this of Kent's banishment.

There is further compliment of leave taking between France and
him. Pray, let us sit together.
If our father carry authority with such disposition
as he bears. This last surrender of his
will but.

Offend us, we
shall further think of it.

We must do something. And in the heat.

Good, good. So what's happening
there? And you see, Jeannie, this does go back to
what. What you were saying about his
disposition. And I would suggest to both of you
once again to. It doesn't have to
be so fraught. I
think it's two sisters who are having a
conversation. You know how he is. and

(01:14:03):
there's trepidation under it. But I
would not, I would say for Goneril, I
would save, for Act 2. The moment where She's.
Or the next scene where she said, did my
father slap my, you know, my
hit my gentleman for, scolding the fool.
You. You have a reason to get
personally upset with him. Here it's

(01:14:25):
about revealing what you know
about your father and a reflection
on his behavior in that scene.
I would with Shakespeare, because there's no
subtext. I think what you want to do
is to make sure that you
don't put a lot underneath the line,

(01:14:45):
that the line itself is a discussion of, did
you see the way he behaved? You know, how he is. And he's old.
And we have those. It's a conversation behind two
sisters who could never say it publicly to their
father. and what I love
about the scene also is,
again, Lizzy, look at you. You're sitting there

(01:15:05):
saying, next month I
don't have to worry about it.

Yeah.

You see, next month with you and
you. So you have a month with
us. Goner was the. Yeah.
Conral has got to be the one who pulls
you out of your lack of interest in doing
anything, to
let you know what's at stake here. And she does make you think about
it. You will change. You say you first. You say it's the

(01:15:35):
infirmity of his age. Yet he's. He's never known who he is.
He's never known himself. And you come back
with the best and soundest of his time.
His age hath been but rash. That's
what old people are. And even. Even the best
of them are rash. Then must
we look from his age to receive not alone

(01:15:55):
the imperfections of long and graft
condition. You know, so you have
to work on her. She really needs you
to pull her. She's not by. She's not
worried because it's not tonight. He's going with
her. You're the one who's got to do something
and in the heat. But you need her to support that
because we're both going to be in trouble. I always

(01:16:18):
feel like Goneril is just a little bit,
wiser than. But again, you're the older
sister. You've been around him
longer, you know,
because even at the end, Reagan, you
say, we shall further think of it. Okay,
I'll give it a thought.

Yeah, that's much better.

And. And your response is,
we must do something, you know,
and hurry. Yeah, that's
right. That's right. All right.

Can I ask,

Yeah.

About, I don't know if these
lines are correct. I think it's around
1-3-44
there with all the un. I'm sorry. Then must we look from
his age to receive not alone the imperfections
of long engraft condition? What
is engraft?

Engraft is. Is inborn. Part of him.
Part of him.

Oh, okay.
Oh, I'm saying. So it's. It's not just
his personality, but it's
aging and what aging brings,
you know, to make him more
unpredictable and changeable and

(01:17:35):
mercurial. Is that what I'm saying?

Yes, I think what you're saying. We. We should. We'll,
The best time was the time of the
we look from. Then must we look from
his age because from him as an old
man to receive not only
his wonky disposition
or part and parcel of who he is,

(01:17:58):
but besides that. This, this
unruly, this undisciplined work,
you know, as you said before, changeability,
that infirm and choleric you. So the older he
gets, the more angry he's going to
get. Him. His change is going to get worse
and worse.

Yeah. I feel like I'm saying, oh, that's just how he is.
And she's like, no, this is spiraling.

Yes. And that's exactly true. That's what she said. That's what
the engraft is. She. You're. She's going back to what
you have just said. That's who he is.
And you say, well, besides who he is.
We're going to have to expect even worse behavior up ahead as he
gets older.

Yes. That, we just witnessed
in public. We watched him deal with
Cordelia. We watched him deal with Kent in such
a rational matter.

And that makes. That makes. Lizzy, that makes you
think such unconstant starts is.
Yes, maybe you're right. So, yeah.

Seeing him do this to Cordelian can.
Totally out of the blue,
unexpected even for us. Having this mercurial
father. It's like.

Yes, yes,
okay. Yes, absolutely.

>> Randall (01:19:14):
He's banished both of them.

Yes.

>> Randall (01:19:17):
Banished.

In a moment.

And we always thought that he loved
Cordelia best.

>> Randall (01:19:23):
That's right.

We were expecting she'd get the best piece of land.
Right.

That's right. Yeah. And we
never hear about that third part of the
kingdom, before it's ever talked
about.

Except he told Cornwall in Albany,
take the third. Take the third and divide
it amongst you.

Right, right. I mean, the description of it. We don't. That
we haven't heard the description. We can guess that it's.
It's very good. Why? Because the prize
is the king of France. Yeah, It's Great that
you guys are with Albany and Cornwall. But my
God, you know, Burgundy
and France. that's
incredible. That means the kingdom can be united with another

(01:20:06):
country. Country.

Yeah.

Through that marriage.

Plus, Burgundy was a very wealthy country.

Yeah.

Known for its wealth.

Burgundy. Ah, I've been to Burgundy.
It's just.

>> Tom Farber (01:20:22):
It's lovely this time of year, huh?

>> Randall (01:20:26):
Food.

Yeah. So now they have a. They. It's
Ghana. Who's saying, we have to. We have to do this. But
they're both. Both going in. I mean, particularly Garnell.
She's going into this evening with, the first
week with her father, with a sense of
keeping an eye on him. What trouble is going to happen?
Because I'm expecting trouble.

Yeah.

By what I've just witnessed, you know, and by
who he is, I accept.

The condition that they have to host not
only their father, but a hundred of his
men.

Yeah.

>> Randall (01:21:02):
They have to. How?

They have to house them, feed them,
entertain them. You know, that's.

>> Nathan Agin (01:21:09):
That's a tall order.

>> Randall (01:21:12):
For a month.

It's like people who insist on bringing their
dog.

And they don't.

They bring 100 dogs.

Like bring my huge, or not even
huge, just dog to your house. It's like,
that's so different from just you coming.

Right. And you want to be a good host.

That won't completely change every second of every
day.

So.

Okay, so now we've. We've seen. We've seen
that progression. I love you more than anything.
I love that. That was another thing I wanted to point out. it's quite
wonderful to see them vie. I love you
the most. No, I love you the most. In
the next scene, the scene we're doing, it's the
opposite. I say I. I
take 50. Well, I take. I give you 25.

(01:22:09):
Well, I give you none. You know, so they're still
vying, but this time, instead of building
him up with praise, they're tearing him
down. They're going to take more and more. Who.
Who can take the most away from him? So they
don't. So he does not go with them.

M. He's.

We have to. So it's. You know, that's
great.

I always saw that as sort of
pre. Planned, but if it's. If they're
competing even then as to. I mean,
and that's so real.

>> Randall (01:22:41):
Right.

Some. You know, there's three girls in my
family and. Oh, God, we
were always competing. Like when we were.
When we were younger, it was. It was like I. I
used to be so anxious about, you know,
these Competitions.
It's like, who can cook the best dinner? You know, who

(01:23:02):
can.

Well, I think too, in this, in that scene, we'll go back
to is when you. When you
say. When he says, you know, I'll go.
You say, I spy a danger. I'll. 25 from
me. I'll. You know, because God's giving you 50.
I'm. I, give you 25. And then
Lear. No, before that. Lear says, I have another.
You can, be good when you want to be good. Behave the way you

(01:23:26):
want to behave. I have another daughter. I can go with
Reagan. She'll let me have my hundred nights. You
come in and say, not altogether so,
sir. And then you have your reasons for it. But
then you reduce those 50 to
25 so he comes back to you.

Is I find a danger that
parenthetical, is so is that like. Actually,
I've just realized that won't work for me.

That's. Well, yes. You don't want
him, so no bargain. You're. That's why you're
whittling this down. You don't want
him with you. If he's there, he can't
resist being king.
Do you see? It's not about I hate him
or I want him dead. It's about I want
to rule. I have this new power and I

(01:24:15):
don't want my father, my. The king
with all of his knights. And, I
think Goneril is quite right. How do
you rule that house? Who's in charge? And it all
starts with Goneril, when she says
one of the knights scolded Lir's.
One of your knights scolded Lir's. Fool.

so it would maybe in performance, would. For
now, I spy a danger be on a side.

No, I don't think so. I think you're saying it m.
I'm worried. Yeah,
I'm worried.
You know, and then you come back with again. Now we
have the gentle Goneril. The gentle Gonerl
comes back with, you know, my. Why not. Why not
just let us. Yeah,

(01:25:06):
that's right. We have a good idea. And of
course, you have the most chill. I think
Regan has the most chilling line of all.
What? Need one?

Yeah.

>> Randall (01:25:18):
Yeah.

Nothing. He's reduced. It's over.

What's the point?

I love the line altogether
so.

Yes, yes.

Whoa now.

I don't know. Do we have time to read that scene one more
time?

Sure we should.

>> Tom Farber (01:25:35):
It's 6:30, so you could.

What? Yeah, yeah.

>> Tom Farber (01:25:40):
It's 6:30, SO.

Yep.

So whenever you guys are ready, we can jump in.

Good morrow to you both.

>> Tom Farber (01:25:58):
Hail to your grace.

I am glad to see your highness.

>> Randall (01:26:06):
I think you are. I know what
reason I have to think so. If thou shouldst not be
glad, I would divorce me
from thy mother's tomb, sepulchering an
adulteress.
Ah, are you free?

Or some other time for that.

>> Randall (01:26:24):
O Regan, thy
sister's naught.
She hath tied sharp
toothed unkindness here
like a vulture. Here I can scarce
speak to thee. Thou wilt not believe with
how deprav'd a quality O

(01:26:44):
Regan.

I pray you, sir, take patience. I half
hope you less know how to value her
desert than she to scant her duty.

>> Randall (01:26:54):
Say, how's that?

I cannot think my sister in the least
would fail her obligation. If,
sir, perchance, she have restrained the riots
of your followers. Tis on such
ground, and to such wholesome end. As
clear, sir, from all blame.

>> Randall (01:27:14):
My, curse is on her.

Sir, you are old. Nature in
you stands on the very verge of his
confine. You should be ruled
and led by some discretion that
discerns your state better than you
yourself. Therefore I pray you,
that to our sister you do make return.
Say you have wronged her,

(01:27:38):
but ask her forgiveness.

>> Randall (01:27:42):
Do but mark how this becomes the
house. Dear
daughter, I confess that I'm
old. Age is
unnecessary. On my knees I
beg that you vouchsafe me raiment,
bed and food.

Good sir, no more. These are unsightly
tricks. Return you to my sister.

>> Randall (01:28:04):
Never. Regan. She had abated me of
half my train, looked black
upon me, struck me with a tongue most
serpent like upon the very heart
O, the stored vengeances of
heaven light on our ungrateful top. Strike
her young bones. You. You

(01:28:26):
strike her young bones. You taking airs with lameness.

>> Tom Farber (01:28:29):
I survive.

>> Randall (01:28:30):
You nimble lightnings, dart your blinding
flames into her scornful eyes,
infect her beauty, you fen sucked
fogs, drawn by the powerful sun to
fall and blister.

O the blest God, so you a wish on me
when the rash mood is on.

>> Randall (01:28:48):
No, Regan, no. Thou
shalt never have my curse.
Thy tender, hefted nature shall not give the o'er to
harshness. her eyes
are fierce, but thine
to comfort and not burn.
Tis not in thee to grudge my
pleasures, to cut off my train,

(01:29:11):
to bandy hasty words, to
scant my sizes, and in conclusion,
to oppose the bolt against my coming in.
O, thou better knowest,
officers of nature, bond of
childhood, effects of courtesy,
dues of gratitude.

(01:29:32):
Thy half of the kingdom hast Thou not forgot
wherein I thee endow'd.

Good sir.

Ah, to the purpose.

>> Randall (01:29:41):
Who put my man in the stocks?

What that I note. My
sisters. This approves her letter, that she would
soon be here.

The lady. come.

>> Randall (01:29:55):
This is a slave,
whose easy borrowed pride dwells in
the fickle grace of her. He follows
out, varlet, from my sight.
What means your grace,
who stalked my servant
Regan? I've good hope thou didst not know

(01:30:16):
on't who comes
here.
Heavens, if you do love
old men, if your sweet sway allow obedience, if
you yourselves are old, make it your cause.
Send down and take my part.
Art not ashamed to look upon this

(01:30:36):
beard?
Regan, will you take her by the
hand?

Why not by the hand, sir? How have
I offended? All's not offence that
indiscretion finds, and dotage terms so.

>> Randall (01:30:52):
besides, you're too tough.
Will you yet hold? How
came my man in the stocks?

>> Tom Farber (01:31:00):
I set him there, sir, but his own
disorders deserve much less advancement.

>> Randall (01:31:05):
You did you?

I pray you, father, being weak
seem so. If, till the
expiration of your month you will return
and sojourn with my sister,
dismissing half your
train, come then to me. I
am now from home, and out of that provision which shall be
needful for your entertainment.

>> Randall (01:31:30):
Return to her and
50 of men dismissed.
No, rather I adjure all
roofs, and choose to wage against the
enmity of the air, to be a comrade with
the wolf and owl, Necessity's
sharp pinch. Return to
her wit. Her? Why, the hot

(01:31:53):
blooded France, that dowerless took our youngest born.
I could as well be brought to knee his
throne and squire like pension,
beg to keep base life of aught.
Return with her. Persuade me rather
to be slave and sumpter to this detested
groom.

At your choice, sir.

>> Randall (01:32:13):
I prithee, daughter, do not
make me mad. I will not trouble
thee, my child. Farewell.
We'll no more meet, no more see one
another. But yet
thou art my flesh, my
blood, my daughter.

(01:32:35):
Or, rather a disease that's in my flesh, which
I must needs call mine. Thou art a
boil, a plague sore, or
embossed carbuncle in my corrupted blood.
But I'll not chide thee.
Let shame come when it will.
I do not. I, do not call it. I do not bid

(01:32:56):
the thunder bearers shoot, nor tell tales of thee to
hide, judging Jove mend when thou
canst be better at thy leisure. I can be
patient. I can stay with
Regan, I and my hundred
knights.

Not altogether so.
I looked not for you yet, nor am
provided for your fit welcome. Give
ears to my sister, for those that
mingle reason with your passion must be
content to think you old and
so, but she knows what she
does.

>> Randall (01:33:33):
Is this, well spoken?

I dare avouch it, sir. What,
50 followers? Is it not well?
What should you need of more? Yea,
or so many, sith that both
charge and danger speak gainst so great a
number? How in one house should many
people under two commands hold amity?

(01:33:59):
Tis hard, almost
impossible.

Why might not you, my lord, receive attendance from
those that she calls servants or mine?

Why not, my lord? If then they chance to slack
ye, we could control them. If you will come
to me, for now I spy a danger. I entreat
you to bring but 5 and 20.
To no more will I give place or
notice.

>> Randall (01:34:24):
I gave you all.

and in good time you gave it.

>> Randall (01:34:28):
Made you my guardians, my
depositories, but
kept a reservation to be followed with such a
number. What, must I come to
you with 5
and 20? Regan, said you
so?

And speak'd again, my lord. No more
with me.

>> Randall (01:34:52):
Those wicked creatures look well favoured when others are
more wicked. Not being the worst stands
in some rank of praise. I'll go with
thee. Thy 50 yet, ah, doth double
5 and 20, and thou art twice her love.

Marry, my lord, what need you 5 and
20, 10 or 5,
to follow in a house where twice so many have a command to
tend you?

What need one?

>> Randall (01:35:19):
O, reason
not the need.
Our basest beggars are in the poorest thing
superfluous. Allow
not nature more than nature needs.
Man's life is cheap as beast.
Thou art a lady,

(01:35:40):
if only to go warm were gorgeous. Why, nature needs
not what gorgeous wearest, which
scarcely keeps thee warm? But for true
need. No, you
heavens, give me that
patience, patience I need.
You see me here, you gods, poor old

(01:36:00):
man, as full of grief as
age. Wretched and both.
If it be you that stirs these daughters hearts against
their father, fool me not so much
to tame it,
to bear it tamely, but touch me
with noble anger. And let not women's

(01:36:21):
weapons, water drops, stain my man's
cheeks.

No, you unnatural
hags.

>> Randall (01:36:31):
I will have such
revenges on you both that
all the world shall. I will
do such things. What they are
yet I know not, but they shall be
the terrors of the earth.
You think I'll, weep? No, I'll

(01:36:53):
not weep.
I have full course of weeping, but this heart, will
break into a hundred thousand
flaws, or e'er I'll, weep.
O fool. I, ah, shall go
mad.

Good Better. Better. We're moving ahead.
It's great.
Questions or thoughts or.
You said you started to get that vine. You start to
see how they. How they do vibe
with one another.

that really activated that section for me.
It's like, damn, she's, you know, doing it again.
She's.

Yeah, but we can't lose because we're just
working together to lower the price.

Yeah.

>> Randall (01:37:43):
yes.

Like, it's.

It's.

It's.

It's.

Yeah, it's interesting. We're sort of collaborating, but we're
also positive outcome.

You see, one of the things he's done is he's
put a price on. On
the. The kingdom, on. On love. He says,
who can say, tell me who loves
me the most? You know, he's
not asking for show me who can
show me that they love me the most. He wants to

(01:38:13):
hear it. And now he's learning
that. And that's what I think about the reason, not the
need. It's not about needing a hundred
nights. It's about a king not
having the thing that makes him
happy. A king makes him
alive. And you have diminished
that. You've taken what he's done in the first act

(01:38:35):
to some degree and made it a number.
It becomes a. You know, it's not about
anything that has to do with his feelings.
It's purely about
150, 25. 1.
None. And that's why he says,
don't. It's not about need. The clothes you're
wearing can't keep you warm.

>> Nathan Agin (01:38:57):
You don't.

You don't. They're not going to keep you warm. warm in the
cold, you know,
and so I. I think that. That that's
what this is reduced to now. and it's
an understanding again, is what is love?
We start the whole playoff with that. What
is love?

(01:39:17):
And what price Is there a price that you can put on
it? And Cordelia says
no, and she's, you know,
she's thrown out.
Yeah.

>> Randall (01:39:29):
Can we.

Can we read to the end of the scene
after.

Yes.

>> Randall (01:39:35):
just. Just to give a sense of what.

The girls are up to, even then.

>> Randall (01:39:39):
Okay.

How it culminates. Yeah. I didn't do it because we
didn't have a Gloucester, but
we can. You can do Gloucester, Randy.

>> Randall (01:39:49):
I, will.

Okay.

All right. Let me play the lion, too.

>> Randall (01:39:55):
I'll play the lion, too.

Okay.

>> Tom Farber (01:40:02):
Would you like me to start?

Cornwall?

>> Randall (01:40:04):
Yeah.

I'm sorry.

>> Randall (01:40:06):
What line are we right after.

Let us withdraw. Let us withdraw.

>> Tom Farber (01:40:11):
Let us withdraw. Twill be a Storm.

This house is little. The old man
and his people cannot be well bestowed.

This is own blame hath put himself from rest and
must needs taste his folly.

Hold on. I want. Because while we're doing it, I do want to just throw
a little thing in there and that is. You're
absolutely right. This is where we
talk about this again. You don't have to make it
harsh at all. This is for his own good
with that storm, because he's
got to learn the lesson. And you know

(01:40:46):
the same thing about there's no room for anybody. Of course
you have to throw them. That's what makes you
despicable.

Yeah, yeah.

You don't see it. You know, it's great
when evil is honest.

Yeah.

When it's hidden under the guise of, what's good for
someone. Listen, we're in a
political situation right now
where that, that happens left and right.
This is good, you know, Good. I'm, I'm. Again,
I'm. Well, I don't want to give you my political viewpoint, but, but I
think you understand what I'm saying is that people have these

(01:41:19):
points of view and it's always the best for
somebody else.

Yeah.

And so I think that what you want to do, this is what
makes audience have audiences sit and
think, oh my God, is she really saying that?
You know, as opposed to I hate her guts. You
know. Okay, can we do it one more time?

>> Tom Farber (01:41:40):
Let us withdraw. It will be a storm.

This house is little. The old
man, its people cannot be well bestowed.

This his own blame hath put himself from rest and must
needs taste his folly.

For his particular I'll receive him gladly,
but not one follower.

So am I purpose. Where's my lord of
Gloucester?

>> Tom Farber (01:42:02):
followed the old man forth. He has
returned.

>> Randall (01:42:05):
King is in high rage.

>> Tom Farber (01:42:07):
Whither is he going?

>> Randall (01:42:09):
He calls to horse, and will I know not whither.

>> Tom Farber (01:42:12):
Tis best to give him way. He leads himself.

>> Randall (01:42:15):
My lord, entreat him by. No.

Oh no, that's Goneril.

My lord, entreat him by no means to stay.

>> Randall (01:42:27):
Alack, the night comes on and the high winds do
sorely ruffle. For many miles about is scarce
a.

Bush to wilful
men. The injuries that they themselves
procure must be their schoolmasters.
Shut up your doors. He is attended with a
desperate train. And what they may incense him to,
being apt to have his ears abused. Wisdom
bids fear.

>> Tom Farber (01:42:53):
Shut up your doors, my lord. Tis a wild
night, my Reagan. Counselors will come
out of the storm.

I would even take it. I would even Go
further with this house is little. The old
man's people cannot be well bestowed.
Tis his own blame hath put himself, and he must
taste his folly. I mean, I. I think the
more innocent you guys go for it, the
more horrible it is.

Got it.

And that particularly, you know. Oh, sir, to willful men, the
injuries that they themselves must be their school
masters. You have to school Gloucester.
You don't understand. You see this child.

So we have to.

And it's really too bad.

That's right. and this is the child
who's locked in the garage in the cold weather,
and they find him dead in the morning.

Yeah. He has not had. It's not my
fault. He does not have the pneumonia vaccine.

I mean, that case was just tried, you know, a
month ago where those parents put
that disobedient, ah. Child in a garage.
Bitter cold. And he died.
And that's the point. He needs to
learn a lesson. Well, what lesson is that?
And that's what makes us. Again, you don't want

(01:44:18):
to do that for the. You want to just open the
door and the audience walk through.

Yeah, that's such a. Yeah.

Yeah. Okay, good. I did want to bring
up one other thing, and that is the. To the purpose.
when you said. When, Regan says to the purpose
and Lear says, who's. Who put my man
in the stocks.

>> Randall (01:44:38):
Yeah.

What leads up to this? And I think somebody was
asking about this before.

Before.

I think that was the email that Nathan sent me.
What leads up to this is when Lear
arrives, Kent is in the stocks.
And Ken says that it's both
your daughter and your son in law. And Lear
says no, and Ken says yes.
And then Gloucester comes in and says they're not
feeling well. They really can't see you. And Lear

(01:45:06):
is beside himself.
And at first he's enraged. Then he says, maybe
I'm overreacting. Acting. Maybe they are sick men.
And so when the scene starts and
Regan comes in and she
says, I'm glad to see your highness.
He says, I think you are.
Because if you weren't, I mean, m. He doesn't say, oh,

(01:45:28):
good. I love you. Kiss, kiss. He says,
if you were not glad to see me.
Yeah. I would say your mother is not
your mother, you know? And so he has
a doubt, but he's put. He.
He's put that doubt aside through this
scene because you're the loving daughter.
You're. Of course, you're. You're saying that Garner was

(01:45:51):
loving too, and he's squelching that who
put my man in the stocks? Because that was
absolute insult to his
power, to who he is.
and so I think that when you
finally say, good sir to the purpose, and he says,
who put my man? It dawns on
him that everything that he was

(01:46:13):
dissuaded from about you putting him in the
stocks must be true, because
you've convinced him that
Goneril is on the right side and that
these are unsightly tricks. And you're behaving, you're old
and you're almost at death's door, and you shouldn't behave this
way. He's pushed finally back to, oh,
my God, Kent must have been telling the

(01:46:35):
truth. They both put that my
man in the stocks. And then he says it three times
after. Right, that makes sense, Randy.

>> Randall (01:46:45):
yeah.

Otherwise it feels like it hangs there.

Yeah. Yeah.

But I think that's the other thing. What we'll add to it
next week is more of looking at the
text itself and the portfolio.
Although I think you guys are already sort of jumped in and
doing some wonderful, wonderful
stuff. It's great to see, to hear
you, do it. And so I just want to get it to get richer.

(01:47:10):
And the folio. The only thing about the
folio, and we've said this last time,
it's basically to open a door,
to open up, to interpret for
you to interpret. See how it. What ideas
you may get from it. It's not meant to be.
Hit that jump here, do that. It's not that

(01:47:31):
kind of a. A strict master. It's
basically to say, oh, gosh, I didn't see
that. That now I have something new to play,
you know, so. So we'll take a look at that next time.
Any questions? Any.
Nothing. You know,
I have a question, but.

It doesn't have to be answered now. But I. This time, it really
made me wonder how affected
I am by what Lear says
to me, what my father says to me. And
also in that other scene, you know, because these are really
obviously horrific, harsh.
I mean, I think I try to think

(01:48:10):
even if my father. My own father,
you know, I remember him being in the hospital
and, you know, his mind sort of
wandering and some, you know, at the end of his life.
And. And yet, if he said these words to
me, I'm still his daughter. I'm still the little
girl inside that once revered my father,
the king. And so I. I just. I

(01:48:32):
mean, the. Some of these things he said,
you know, this time, just
hurtful. Yes, it hurt.
It worked. If he wanted to destroy me
emotionally Some of this came close.
And then I felt myself saying, stealing myself and
saying, no, I'm not going to let him get to

(01:48:52):
me. M. So. So I
think I sort of carried some of that emotion into the
last scene. So when.
When you say, be as innocent as possible, I kind of
have to make that. Figure out how to get from that
place to that
innocence.

Right. And maybe the word maybe innocent
is not what I'm, Maybe that's not
helpful. My. My point is
that what the words are saying is it's
for his own good. But, it sounded to
my ear that you were playing. I hope he
suffers.

Oh, okay.

So by being too strong with it,
I see, you know, it does, the. You know, suit the
word to the action. The action to the word. My ear
hears one thing, and I'm seeing
behavior that's different. Almost became subtext.
Rather than actually taking that text and saying,
I don't think it is innocent, but I think
she's using it to her. Her

(01:49:52):
purpose. Because nobody wants that.
Nobody wants to look like the villain in the piece.
Yes, it's a good. That's why you say, and
in good time. You gave it because
you're old. You shouldn't be ruling.

Yeah.

You see, it's Biden. Biden's up against that right
now. Yeah. Really? Do you want an old
president? Do you really? Oh, and all of
a sudden it's about ageism. not about whether he's right
for Lear's right for not right. You know? Do you see what I
mean? So I. I think that
I. I think that, you are totally
affected by everything he

(01:50:29):
said to you. But I don't think it's about love anymore. I think
it's about getting the job done and
making sure that Gloucester is
willing to follow you. I don't. I think
you have so many opportunities up ahead
to do things that are
out and out, overtly

(01:50:49):
evil and harsh, that I think you want
to work your way there. And I think it is a human
trait to. To say to somebody, the
reason that I'm. Is that I'm doing this
because you're not talking to Lear. I guess that's my point. In this
moment, you're talking to Gloucester.
Yeah. Okay.

(01:51:11):
Okay. Does Nathan come back? Do we
wanna.

Can you lock the door?

Nathan, can you let us out?

>> Nathan Agin (01:51:19):
Nathan can come back. Hold on one second.

I was in charge.

>> Nathan Agin (01:51:28):
You're in charge.

It's. Oh, I am not.
great to work with you guys, truly.

Oh, thank you so much.

This was Amazing, really.

Thank you. I'm going to have all my lines memorized next
time.

Oh, gee whiz. Okay.

>> Randall (01:51:47):
Well, that's not.

>> Nathan Agin (01:51:48):
That's not fair, right? Randy's been. Been working on this play for
50 years, so that's.

But I haven't memorized that scene.

This be a permanent class,
right? So soul nourishing,
like you said, Randy. Food for the soul.

You just, ah, feel all your. Like there's just parts of
your brain that, like. There's just pleasure
centers that light up. You know that it's just
so.

Because you guys are actors, we've taken the
theater away from actors and placed it in the hand of
directors. And that's not right.
That's not right. They should be
guiding. They should. Actors should be
meant to dream, to be inspired.
You have to live on that stage and hold
that mirror up to humanity, to nature.

(01:52:34):
You've got to become the thing itself, not
somebody's idea of what it should be. Because I'm the
director. So, yes, it
should be joyful. Yes, it should be filling.
The theater can change lives, and we're not
allowing it to do that. We've reduced
it to just a commodity. And

(01:52:54):
as long as we do that, it won't hold the power
and glory that it has. I'm done. I'm sorry. I do
get.

I actually love it. I love it.
And.

Nathan, help.

>> Nathan Agin (01:53:09):
No, no, no. You're doing wonderfully on
your own. There's, nothing I could add. no, no, this was
great. I had a couple of projects going on, but I was able
to drop in from time to time and listen. I'll probably listen,
back to the replay for more of it. But no,
I'm so thrilled that you guys all enjoyed this time and that.
And I definitely enjoyed hearing, even if it wasn't the scene,

(01:53:30):
just the conversations around the scene and all the different things
that. I mean, just one example, just hearing the
sisters going, oh, wait a second. It's not that we don't like
him. We're still competing. It's like, who wants him
less? And just, you know, it's something that's simple,
but can really illuminate the scene for an audience member
and give you guys more choices of things to play of.

(01:53:51):
Just like, no, I really don't want him here. You
know, that kind of stuff. So, no, it's great. It's
wonderful. So thank you for your time and everything you
guys bring to it.

Looking forward to next Tuesday.

Have a good week, everyone.

>> Nathan Agin (01:54:05):
Have a great week.

Thank you so much, everyone. Bye.

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King Lear - Week 1: "The Fragility of Authority and Family Bonds" - The Rehearsal Room

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}King Lear - Week 1: "The Fragility of Authority and Family Bonds" - The Rehearsal Room