Having your eyeballs pulled out — an act infamously featured in “King Lear” — is horrific. Yet in the Public Theater production that opened last night, the scene barely registers. It’s not often you can describe an enucleation as ho-hum.
But then, so is the storm during which Lear (Sam Waterston) wanders about the countryside, losing his mind. The violent deaths of the king’s wicked daughters, Goneril (Enid Graham) and Regan (Broadway star Kelli O’Hara)? Meh. The show, erratically staged and acted, never finds its footing and plods along monotonously.
Too bad, because the beginning seemed auspicious.
When we first see Lear, he’s meant to be at the peak of his powers. But Waterston looks frail, twitchy. This ruler is showing signs of imbalance, perhaps not fully in control of his mind and body.
While he casts off his one loyal daughter, Cordelia (Kristen Connolly), for not sucking up to him, we hear a distant rumble: Whether it’s the subway rattling under the theater or a sound effect, we know bad things are coming.
As wickedness closes in, so does the main element in Miriam Buether’s minimal set: a curtain made of chains, which slowly moves from the background to the foreground, shrinking off the stage. This lets director James Macdonald create a claustrophobic atmosphere.
But once we’re done with the curtain, Macdonald is out of ideas, and leaves the motley cast free to meander.
Bill Irwin is a striking Fool. He readily goes from scary when flashing a thin serial-killer grin to touching when strumming a ukulele; by the end, he’s the picture of pathetic desolation.
Also solid are Michael McKean and John Douglas Thompson, who bring stern dignity to Gloucester and Kent, respectively.
An experienced stage actor, Waterston succeeds in making us forget about his run as Jack McCoy on “Law & Order,” even if he falls back on bellowing to communicate pain and distress. And while it’s exciting to see O’Hara — the Tony-winning star of “South Pacific” — venture into Shakespeare, she looks a bit cowed. So does Seth Gilliam, ineffectual as the traitor Edmund. At least we can understand what he says, unlike Frank Wood, who’s mostly unintelligible as Regan’s husband.
Give the Public credit for getting Waterston, Irwin and O’Hara on one stage — and in “King Lear,” no less. It’s nice to see there are still gamblers around, even if the move doesn’t quite pay off here.