King Lear.

Robert M. Massimi.

Many of the New York City more noteworthy theater companies have been around for a long time and Frog & Peach is one of them. The company was based out of The Sheen for many years and now puts on many of their plays at Theatre at St. Clements on West 46th St.

The familiarity of a theater company can be a good thing, after-all, The Bard himself traveled around England with his very own theater company and setting up theater stages whenever it was feasible to do so. Shakespeare would often change the lead actors around depending on the natural lighting, the stage space and the different regions that they traveled.

The problem with today's theater companies is that you run the end lines of talent; some are more talented than others, some are better at certain genres than others. At times, companies run the risk of even having to put actors in roles that they just aren't that good in.

Set on a simple stage this King Lear runs the gambit of emotions. While the fight scenes are all very good (Marcus Watson) the direction fades in and then fades out (Lynnea Benson). The lighting by Dennis Parichy as well as the sound make this "Lear " comfortable to watch in the pleasant atmosphere that is St. Clements.

In this "King Lear" the problems arise with two of the main characters: the King himself "Greg Mullavey" and David Elyha as the Earl of Gloucester. In the King we can never believe that he is a powerful man as he appears on stage. Mullavey mutters his words at time which not only was difficult to hear at times, but just never came across as believable as a strong-willed leader. Elyha too seemed weak as The Earl, frail and having miscues with lines and body language made this performance inconsistent.

The set design is minimal but it was effective, we never needed more than what Asa Benally provided. Benally also provided the costumes which made no sense, (The King in a trendy leather jacket? Elyha in John Lennon type round sunglasses?). I could go deeper into detail about the costumes, however, I mention just two examples because most of the costumes detracted from the Shakespearean play. The guards looked more like Black Panthers in the 60's than they did in a classic play; in fact the whole cast seemed to be thrown together in rag tag cloths.

In Benson's direction the audience gets a mish mosh of emotion and body language. Many of the important lines in the play were either spoken as an after thought or delivered as a matter-of-factually. The core actors never brought the intensity that is needed in this play, especially The King. While his daughters and husbands were good, Eric Doss as The Fool was a standout. His "business", body language was great throughout the performance. As Edgar, DazMann Still too had the audience mesmerized by his performance. But this all left a huge void in the performance... good acting vs mediocre, vs bad acting. The end result is that the "King Lear" was so-so at best. In this two hour run with one intermission, we went from good parts to bad all afternoon.

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Frog&Peach Theater Company, Bedlam Theater Company, Pushkin Hall, Russian Theater Company, Rattlestick Theater Company, The Sheen Center for the Arts, The Players Theater Company, www.triviscompany.com, www.broadwayworld.com, Broadway, Off Broadway, St.Clements Theater, Doubt, The Notebook, Hamilton, Aladdin, The Lion King, New York City, Tony Awards, Obie Awards, The Seven Year Disappear, Theater Row, J2Production Company, Pershing Square, The Music Box Theatre, Downtown.