The domestic feel to this monumental scene surprised everyone. Perhaps the power and the horror of this declaration of war is precisely because it is rooted in family, in long-standing, almost contemptuous familiarity. FD and PK worked very well off each other’s energies, inventing the strategy as they went along, showing the sisters to have a strong sense of right on their side. • The scene was repeated, and several of the actors read on their feet, Regan and Gonoril facing each other from opposite ends of the reading tables. • 4 April 2001 BK noted that time did not allow for an intensive line-by-line reading of this scene, and he wanted to use this session to input some of the Folio version of the same scene into our performance version: -
Kent’s line ‘Yes they have’ (199) was changed to ‘By Juno I say aye’ (F1) Lear’s line ‘They travelled hard tonight?’ (254) was changed to ‘They travelled all the night?’ (F1) Gonoril’s entrance (at 345) was changed to a silent entrance, and Lear spoke the F1 lines: ‘Who stocked my servant? Regan, I have good hope/Thou didst not know it’ (345-6) The Fool’s “Not in the stocks, fool” (F1) replaced ‘Not in the stocks.’ (252)
One of the Fool’s insights is to see the fool in everyone, and this might explain his apparent amusement at the sight of Kent in the stocks, said BK. The Fool also sees the universal man in every man - he understands that on one level all men are fools. BK said he was interested in the degree to which the Fool can see not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be; he has predicted that Regan will be as unsympathetic as Gonoril, and the sight of Kent in the stocks confirms his vision. • JMc wondered whether the Fool knows that Caius and Kent are the same person. JMc noted that the Fool makes pertinent references to Kent when speaking to Caius, but he wasn’t sure he recognissed him. BK thought that this was an interesting idea and he asked JMc to keep the idea in the back of his mind. The discrepancy between the references to Lear’s 100 knights and the remarks by Kent about the paucity of the train led to a lengthy discussion. Though no concrete conclusion was reached, all agreed that it is only when alone in the storm that Lear finally realises he has lost his knights, along with everything else. • 20 April 2001 FD stepped over BA in the stocks as she greeted JG in the DSR corner. RMc freed him a moment or two later. FD also kicked at JG as he pretended to grovel at her feet, mocking the idea of apologising to Goneril. This seemed a harsh move. On entering, PK marched to the DSL corner to grasp FD firmly by the hand. JG frequently man-handled FD and PK, ranting and raging in a terrifying manner. Scene 8
34