King Lear review – Kenneth Branagh’s fast and feverish tragedy

Wyndham’s theatre, London
At two hours with no interval, the actor-director’s production hurtles past at such speed that the depths of the play are too rarely realised

Kenneth Branagh has confirmed his mercurial ability to inhabit Shakespeare’s flawed heroes over decades on stage and film. We have come to expect great things: energy, polish and accomplished verse diction.

That is what we get here, in his production of what some believe to be the most tragic of Shakespearean downfalls. But although Branagh delivers his Lear with slick, almost playful efficiency, it is not his towering achievement.

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