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Last night saw Kenneth Branagh playing King Lear in London. https://kinglearbranagh.com/ from third row from the front. Branagh has developed a policy of using young and not well known actors in the other roles - and they were all superb. He'd pared the script down from the normal 3h15m to 2h without an interval, but kept the key themes intact. At the end Lear carries his dead daughter Cordelia onto the stage, and after some tough lines simulates dying from a heart attack and also dies. With only them on stage, the stage rotated - and neither of them were perceptively breathing, viewed from close up. That takes some doing. Now we have seen some great Lear productions. Glenda Jackson, Ian Mckellen, Frank Langella (Nixon in Frost-Nixon), and the Branagh was right up there. The only slight criticism is that Branagh looks too young (he's 62) to be the elderly and progressively dementia suffering Lear. Jackson and McKellen were in their 80's in their productions and really looked the part. Now I'm nit picking here because when Branagh was on stage you simply could not take your eyes off him - his stage presence and the force of his portrayal is why he is one of the acting titans.

Someone just liked a 4 year old post of mine on this thread. Time to renew my vows. I must make MattNog this weekend. *sings* It's the Matt...Noggiest time of the year... I also love that the most recent posts are on my wedding anniversary. Cheers Matt!

James Austin Johnson is so good it's downright spooky.

This stupid earworm was as catchy 25 years ago as it still is today.

Just havin' a bit of a hard time. But I know it's time.