Last year, director Lev Dodin brought his Maly Drama Theatre of St Petersburg to the Barbican for a sublime Uncle Vanya.
Unfortunately, an ill-fitting Chekhovian languor hangs over the first half of what, if this were Hollywood, would surely be called Lev Dodin's King Lear.
For Dodin, and adaptor Dina Dodina, don't seem to trust Shakespeare all that much. That crucial sense of purging and purification at the end is excised, along with the text's political overtones. Cordelia turns into a horrible little madam. The Fool turns into a piano.
David Borovsky's design sees a bare set interrupted by some slatted wooden panels stretching out from the wings, suggesting a frenzied day at Ikea rather than a realm in disarray. This leaves a lot of spare space for the actors to try to fill, unsupported as they are by the customary slew of knights and messengers.
From his very first line, Petr Semak's Lear speaks in a lugubrious monotone, making three hours in his unravelling company a daunting prospect. The crucial scene on the heath involves the blasted slats, turned round this time; only Danila Kozlovskiy's Edgar emerges from the wilderness with much credit. Disappointing.
Until Saturday 14 October. Information: 0845 120 7550. www.barbican.org.uk
King Lear
Barbican Theatre
Silk Street, EC2Y 8DS
