When your hairs are standing on end only five minutes into a play - and the singers are just getting into their swing - you know in your gut that you’re in for something special and unique.
Songs of Lear opens with a short introduction from director Grzegorz Bral. He explains the work process of this Polish company, Song of the Goat Theatre: imagination, improvisation and refinement. This is a ‘nonlinear dramatic event’, he explains, dramatic poems based on the story of King Lear. Music is described as painting, landscape, character, and event. Bral’s continuous interjections hold this explorative piece together, clarifying the context and function of each song. The evolution of the piece is ongoing and Bral is clearly a perfectionist, his presence keenly felt throughout, sitting on the side of the stage or actively involved in conducting. He’s even taking notes.
The choral singing is powerful from the onset: ritualistic, growing into gut-wrenching torrents of emotion. Solos from Cordelia were breathtakingly stirring, climaxing in visceral wails of anguish and gushes of tears. Each song offers a unique feeling and intent. The piece embodying the spirit of Lear’s descent into madness, for example, becomes fragmented and raucous with stamping, frenzied dancing, and drumming. In every case, however, there is refinement, expertise, and awe-inspiring control. The movement is equally accomplished and fervent. One sequence between Cordelia and Lear was disturbingly violent and painful to watch, but masterfully performed. The ensemble’s cohesion and energy is consistently palpable, acutely felt in their interaction and engagement with each other and the audience.
A basic knowledge of the story of King Lear would be beneficial, as the songs are not always sung in English and only a minority draw directly from the text. The director notes in one interjection: ‘as we know, Lear enters the wilderness’, so prior knowledge is expected of us. However, it is raw emotion that is at the core of this performance and, as the magnitude of the music washes over you, the exact connection to the original text is unimportant.
