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When the curtain went up on Sir Ian McKellen's King Lear at Stratford-upon-Avon, it was the most keenly anticipated theatrical moment of recent years. Britain's foremost star of the stage, acclaimed over the years for his Macbeth, his Richard III and his Prospero, was at last turning his attention, at 67, to what is probably the most challenging role in Shakespeare's tragedies. And he was going to play one scene naked into the bargain.
And yet, halfway through its 12-week run, there is still no word as to whether this Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) production is a massive critical hit or a miss. It has become the phantom play, unreported and leaving Lear fans to search unofficial websites for illicit reviews.
Audiences attending performances at the Royal Shakespeare Company's new Courtyard Theatre last week were bemused by the lack of reviews. While many praised the production for being both clear and exciting, several were annoyed by the protective attitude of the RSC.
"If it is supposed to be a perfectly good performance, with tickets sold at full price, then why isn't it good enough for the critics?" asked Gertrude Molloy, a bookseller from nearby Oxford.
It is an "unprecedented" situation, according to Martin Brown of the actors' union Equity, who said that, while his organisation usually supports the idea that the critics should wait until a show is ready for review, "we don't have a position on the unusual circumstances we have here".
Earlier this year publicity interviews were given and photographers shot the glamorous cast, which includes the film actresses Romola Garai and Frances Barber, as well as McKellen, now world-famous for playing Gandalf in the film of Lord of the Rings. Finally, a handful of preview performances took place before Stratford audiences who had paid discounted prices.
Then nothing. No reviews. No plaudits. No brickbats. Director Trevor Nunn, it emerged, had imposed a complete ban on critics attending the play until May 31, when it will have only three weeks left to run.
The critical vacuum was a necessity, argued Nunn and Michael Boyd, artistic director of the RSC, because one of its leading ladies, Barber, had suddenly dropped out of the production after hurting her knee.
In spite of the ban, this newspaper can confirm that McKellen's performance as the troubled king is winning broad acclaim from his public.
On Thursday night many theatregoers rose to their feet and cheered during his curtain call.
"McKellen is wonderful," said John O'Connor, an English teacher. "The dynamics of the production are fantastic too. There is this sense of the slow degradation of everything around them."
Theatre websites, which have filled the critical void, have been largely warm in their praise.
"It is very, very good. Clear, well-paced and beautifully directed," writes "Lynette" on the popular Whatsonstage site, although "Jenny" admits: "I wasn't as blown away by this production as I had hoped to be. Even if it's good, it's not a five-star production in my opinion."
Few details of the production have leaked out, but one exception is the rumour that McKellen appears in the nude during the storm scene at the end of the first act.
Sir Ian's shorts do indeed drop to the ground as he rails against the world, only to be pulled up moments later by his devoted Fool.
A notice pinned up on the wall of the theatre foyer warns audiences that they will face "loud noises, brief nudity and gunshots" inside the auditorium, but it does not prepare them for the fact that McKellen will prove himself, in Lear's words, "every inch a king".
Barber, who was to have played Goneril, Lear's eldest daughter, seriously damaged a ligament in her knee when she swerved on her bike to avoid a tourist who had stepped out into the road in front of her in Stratford on the eve of the original press night.
Her agent and the RSC have together confirmed that the actress is now able to walk without crutches, but still relies on a walking stick. She is continuing to work alongside Melanie Jessop, her stand-in, and hopes to be back on stage in a fortnight.
Critics were informed a month ago that Barber's knee would require surgery. Nunn wrote to them apologetically explaining his decision to prevent reviewers attending.
"Since it was clear, therefore, that we would only be able to give a limited account of the production, and an account which (through no fault of the understudy) would have been constantly at risk, the RSC decided postponement was the only option," his note said.
Since then many London critics have complained about the length of the ban on reviews, but nothing has appeared in print. Lear himself famously decrees that "nothing will come of nothing", but in this case it is not true.
The show is sold out for the whole of its Stratford schedule, regardless of the ban. A spokeswoman for the RSC said morale has remained good throughout the critically silent run.
- OBSERVER
