What happens when a play gets bad reviews? It's one thing when critics savage it, quite another when your own cast is questioning what you're doing.
That is exactly the situation Rupert Goold seems to have found himself in during the last few weeks, with his production of King Lear at Liverpool's Everyman. In what might count as one of the year's more surprising interviews, Pete Postlethwaite went on Radio 4 last night to announce that, far from defending the production, he was on the critics' side. "I'm not averse to criticism," he said, "particularly when it's well-founded". Oof.
We're so used to actors gushing that it's surprising to hear a luvvie have anything exciting to say. Especially when the play is still up and running. Yet Postlethwaite was both frank and thoughtful in suggesting that Goold's flashy, conceptual interpretation of King Lear was "misjudged" and "overwhelmed by ideas".
Perhaps the even bigger surprise is that Rupert Goold, 2008's go-to-guy for critical success, seems to have responded. Postlethwaite suggested that plenty had changed, with some things being cut entirely, including some of Goold's more elaborate staging fripperies ("decorations ... things we found unhelpful, distracting, not true to the story," as he put it).
If Goold's second major Shakespeare production in a year has changed so much from its original incarnation – all while playing to audiences nightly – can we expect more directors to follow suit?
