Auckland Theatre Company

This play we saw Saturday night was very different to any other plays presented in the last couple of years. My wife and i thought that this was very cleverly and slickly done, with many scenes done 'tongue-in- cheek'. Frankly we have been most disappointed with several local written plays. The Chinese one was crude and tasteless. The last play about the robot would, with a script editing, be quite clever. If you are going to keep our continued subscription, then present more plays from overseas, like 'Doubt' and the play about an American lecturer whose career was destroyed by the continued false accusations of molestations by a disturbed young female student, also presented several years ago. Your audience is older and more sophisticated, so resist the urge to go to the lowest denominator.

Great opening show. Fabulous singing, great humour and heartfelt performances. Highly recommended. See it with your friends and family!

This performance was absolutely stunning!!! Stunning talent, design, and general feel. Brilliantly written and performed.

Powerful , sad , confronting , beautifully staged, cleverly acted by extremely talented wahine. A must see.

What a fabulous production. I loved it! Didn’t have a clue what to expect. The cast were amazing..so slick and professional and the stage effects were something else. So incredibly clever but so hard to explain to friends who missed out on seeing it. Bravo! It was a privilege to be in the audience.

King Lear was a sentimental fool who, lacking a male heir, divided up his kingdom between his daughters before he’d passed away. What he should’ve done was name the eldest, Goneril, as heir, marry off the youngest to France as an ally, and give Kent the power of regency to cover his impending senility. Goneril may have been wicked, but things couldn’t have turned out worse than they did, and her husband the Duke of Albany (Scotland) may have moderated her worst inclinations.Instead, his situation quickly descends from high formality to humiliation to madness and chaos. Those most loyal to Lear all suffer for it, notably his daughter Cordelia, whom he rejects in Act I and who dies in his arms at the end. The political lesson is clear: only a fool divides his sovereignty voluntarily. First performed in 1606, not long after the succession of James VI of Scotland to the English throne as James I, the audience were well aware of dynastic politics and the importance of avoiding a war of succession. The fact that James's mother, Mary Queen of Scots, had been scandalously executed under Queen Elizabeth's reign was still in living memory.What do we see in it now?In the course of watching Lear’s self-inflicted disgrace, we learn how hypocrisy and unbridled ambitions destroy us. Truth is folly and the mad lead the blind. On the way to his madness, Lear becomes little more than a bitter, twisted and impotent old man, and yet somehow, through the devilish pace of events, he lays bare the inner self, the absolute importance of loyalty, and the impossibility of true justice.Somehow this idiotic and humiliated character must reveal the nobility that underlies our most unworthy motives and feelings.One of the most derided figures of our times is the narcissistic, pathetic and lecherous old man, especially when he thinks he can rule. There are crowds on social media just itching for opportunities to ridicule, dethrone and emasculate him. How does one act this pathetic old fool and yet display his true pathos to reveal a timeless meaning?This takes an actor of true maturity and sustained skill, and Micheal Hurst carries it off masterfully. ‘Doing Lear’ is a crowning achievement for his distinguished career.There’s a fine line between pathos and pathetic, and the play relies almost entirely on the quality of its lead to ensure that the audience can see the pathetic side and yet still feel the pathos. Lear is a play that demands all of our mental powers to comprehend the worst and the best that may emerge from the decisions that we make. On his journey into idiocy, isolation and loss, Lear leads us back into ourselves. The ATC production brought that out brilliantly.

I was eagerly looking forward to the performance because of the reviews which talked about hearing audiences laugh alot and I was bitterly disappointed. The language was offensive and the story line weak. The lightening and set changes were first rate but I don't think it was worth the money we spent to come and would not recommend this show to anyone. The performance of the robots was excellent and the leading lady a strong performer. Unfortunately her role was tarnished by offensive language which made her and the show look cheap. It was very poor directorship that thought the use of such language was acceptable to the general public. The front of the house people were excellent but wouldn't recommend this show as value for money nor would I recommend anyone attend. I am left very disappointed.

First time seeing a Shakespeare play. It had everything - drama, action, comedy, tragedy. We loved the experience. The acting was outstanding. Michael Hirst was phenomenal. Loved Oswald!

My two guests and I agreed that the entire production team - staging, lighting, music and sound took equal honours with the actors in the production. Many very ingenious devises were employed to amuse and hold our attention as the chase progressed. The split second timing needed to keep such a large cast moving at such speed was a wonder to behold.

I thought the production was extremely well done, very funny in parts, enjoyed it, but at times, in spite of wonderful seats front row in the middle section, I just could not hear all the actors. very sad, as I am not hearing impaired, and hate to miss some of the dialogue. I was in many school productions, and long ago in The Children's Theatre Company and voice projection was paramount.