Lear
★★★★☆ Compelling
Pitlochry Festival Theatre: Sat 4 Jul – Sat 1 Aug 2026
Review by Hugh Simpson
Lear at the Pitlochry Festival Theatre is a powerful production, with Maureen Beattie’s towering central performance backed up by an excellent cast.
In Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s 75th year, this is only its eighth Shakespeare and its first-ever production of King Lear. And while there have been some outstanding re-imaginings of the play in recent years, it’s always important to go back to the source.
Maureen Beattie and cast in Lear. Pic: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan
Although this production is ‘directed and adapted by Finn den Hertog’, it is actually much more faithful to the original than such a credit would suggest. Aside from Lear (and Kent) being female, not too much has been altered or cut; this manages to break through the three-hour barrier. There have certainly been numerous productions of Shakespeare that stray far further from the text without being called an ‘adaptation’.
Beattie’s Lear is exceptionally powerful. At first she is unthinkingly overbearing and playfully manipulative in her demands for ‘love’, then a misguided queen clinging to expectations of regal status even after having given up power, with her spitting fire. The character’s descent is also superbly portrayed, with bewilderment, rage and pathos. The closing scenes in particular are portrayed with a heartbreaking clarity.
a new light
Making the central character female does cast a new light on the relationship with Lear’s three daughters, and this production focuses as much on family dynamics as on wider political implications.
There’s more credibility to the actions of Goneril (a wounded, brittle Jenny Hulse) and Regan (an assured, frightening Lindsey Campbell) than is often the case. Ailsa Davidson’s emotional resonance is evident both in her conflicted Cordelia and her lucid Fool.
Lear cast. Pic: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan
This examination of family is carried over into the depiction of Gloucester (Forbes Masson) and his sons Edgar (Dylan Reid) and Edmund (Reuben Joseph). There are some considered and interesting choices being made here; Gloucester is shown early on as a preening, lecherous, comical figure which contrasts effectively with what happens later and displays Masson’s range to great effect.
The way that Edgar is shown as literally trying on his ‘Poor Tom’ persona, weighing up different dress, movement and accents, works very well; Reid’s physicality gives an often difficult character real impact.
a characterisation of poise and moral authority
The decision to make Joseph’s Edmund so thoroughly charming, and so openly complicit with the audience, is also well-judged. Once again, this gives what can be a one-dimensional villain real nuance.
While there is some notable onstage action (movement direction from Vicki Manderson and fight direction by Robin Hellier), it is noticeable just how static a production it is at times. There are several examples of onstage tableaux, with characters literally keeping their distance from each other. This relies on performers reacting to each other to just the right degree, something epitomised by Mercy Ojelade’s excellent Kent, a characterisation of poise and moral authority.
Maureen Beattie and Forbes Masson in Lear. Pic: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan.
The ensemble (completed by Beruce Khan’s upright Albany and Ali Craig’s snarling Oswald) is thoroughly impressive all round, and den Hertog’s direction is consistently empathetic and reasoned.
Emma Bailey’s design evokes a dilapidated country house in the first half before becoming starkly stripped-back and dominated by a fallen tree after the interval. It is very well served by Kai Fischer’s wonderfully responsive lighting.
The ominous rumbles and thrums of Mark Melville’s sound design are splendidly atmospheric, with striking use made of the compositions and smallpipes of Brìghde Chaimbeul.
downplayed
The focus on the domestic means that the play’s mythic grandeur and symbolism are sometimes downplayed. Some of the more shocking events can therefore seem more gratuitous than usual; something that is accentuated by the loss of the character of Cornwall, which unbalances some of the narrative. The static nature of much of it does also make it drag a little, which is noticeable when the interval comes after an hour and three-quarters.
This is an intelligent and compelling production, however. If at times it is difficult to watch, that is unavoidable with any good production of Lear, and just shows that a very fine cast have done justice to its eternally relevant concerns.
Running time: Three hours and 5 minutes (including one interval)
Pitlochry Festival Theatre, Port-na-craig Road, Pitlochry, PH16 5DR
Saturday 4 July – Saturday 1 August 2026
Tues (not 28), Thur – Sat at 7.30 pm; Matinees Wed (not 29), Thurs, Sat, Sun at 2.30 pm
Tickets and details: Book here.
Ailsa Davidson, Mercy Ojelade and Maureen Beattie in PFT’s Lear. Pic: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan.
ENDS
