Community High School

King Lear Review

Complete darkness fell on the Kraft Theater. Eerie music echoed. It was opening night of the Community Ensemble Theatre’s fall production of William Shakespeare’s King Lear. 

They had been preparing since September. Kelsey Cavanagh-Strong had been there from the beginning. She decided to step back from acting and took on the role of assistant director. “I wanted to experience being on the other side. And I thought it would be valuable for college,” Cavanagh-Strong said.

In the weeks leading up to opening night, she played a big role in preparing the cast and crew for their performance. Before rehearsals Cavanagh-Strong warmed up the cast. She took them through stretches and got their voices ready by having them say tongue twisters. During the actual practices, Cavanagh-Strong took notes for Director Emily Wilson-Tobin. She gave suggestions to the actors on how they could improve.

When opening night finally arrived, how did the assistant director feel? “I was very nervous. But also proud of the actors and crew that put work into the play.”

All the work that the actors and crew put into King Lear showed during opening night. But there were times when it was apparent that this was a high school play. “The play went well. Things could always be better. But this was a hard play and we are a high school cast.” Cavanagh-Strong commented.

James Mills was amazing as King Lear. During the play Lear went from anger and then to sadness. Mills showed each of these emotions perfectly. He left the audience with the feeling that they were not watching an actor playing a character, but instead a person being themselves. 

Mills’ performance was complimented by those playing Lear’s three daughters. Becca Felkey and Michelle Weiss, playing Goneril and Regan, did a good job together. In the play, the sisters were fighting over land being given away by their father. Felkey and Weiss were believable when they argued and fought. Katie Wright played the youngest daughter Cordelia. Wright was excellent when Cordelia was reunited with Lear at the end of the play.

“[A stand out performance was] Rafe Scobey-Thal, because Edgar is very, very weird,” said Cavanagh-Strong. The role of Edgar called for a brave actor to run around stage in underwear, and what was basically a burlap sack, acting insane. Scobey-Thal blew everyone away with his performance. During intermission he was a main topic of conversation. This was along with Neal Kelley who played the king’s fool. Kelley used a lot of arm gestures when delivering his rhyming lines. He spoke in a realistic way.

One of my favorite scene’s was the Lynette and Drew sword fight. Lynette Score played Goneril’s assistant Oswald. Drew Clark played the Earl of Kent. Drew’s character won after a hard fought battle.

One of the biggest problems during King Lear were the sound effects. Throughout the play music was cut off quickly. It didn’t sound realistic. Another problem was that almost all of the actors spoke too fast, and became tongue-tied. Shakespeare plays are hard to follow. When actors speak too fast or don’t say their lines fully it doesn’t help the audience understand the play. And it was awkward when the dead characters were carried on or off stage. The lights were dimmed so that it didn’t seem like this was interrupting the scene, it could have been better.

“When the play was done I was relieved. And I was sad that it was over. It was a wonderful group. But I’m ready for a break,” Cavanagh-Strong said.

The Community Ensemble Theatre’s King Lear was excellent. The time and effort put in by Kelsey Cavanagh-Strong and everyone involved was clear. The actors seemed to have a good time while on stage. The audience enjoyed the play. There were a lot of standout performances. King Lear was well worth seeing. The Community Ensemble Theatre did an outstanding job and should be proud of their fall production.

*See a picture of the cast of King Lear!*