Kenneth Branagh's King Lear was preposterous, but Kate Maltby argues it also showcased Branagh's greatest asset – his ability to nurture you
Given the opportunity, Branagh abridges everyone’s lines except his own. Much like the Guardian’s columnist, I found it surprising to encounter a Lear with abs – and not by accident. Branagh’s muscles seemed to have been deliberately contoured with mud to add maximum definition, as if in a Kardashian make-up video. This is ego, not theatre...
...For me, this was a reminder of Branagh at his worst and at his best. He shines as a talent-spotter, nurturing young British actors. Yes, his Lear was preposterous. But did you notice Jessica Revell, making her West End debut in the dual role of Cordelia and the Fool? Or her fellow 2023 RADA graduate Melanie-Joyce Bermudez, who was often electrifying as Regan?
Branagh has taken full advantage of his presidency of RADA to give opportunities to its brightest students – Jessie Buckley’s Perdita in his 2015 The Winter’s Tale was pivotal to her career. Eleanor de Rohan, here playing Kent, is another talented recent graduate who owes much to Branagh – I first saw her as Guildenstern while she was still at the school, when Branagh directed Hamlet with its students. (Tom Hiddleston, another Branagh RADA protégé, made a superb return in the title role.) Branagh’s mentoring of RADA’s finest is something to celebrate – the only ethical question is whether other drama schools have cause to complain.