King Lear

Clapp, Susannah, New Statesman (1996)

When she was at primary school Kathryn Hunter was cast as a dwarf. In her twenties, she appeared in Aladdin as a monkey. She has played a moustached Brando-style gangster in Wiseguy Scapino, insisting, her director explained, "on having a willie, to be correct but also for the fun". She has been - in one production of The Winter's Tale - an elderly shepherd, a middle-aged matron, a child of six, and a personification of Time. When Caryl Churchill wrote The Skriker she envisaged that several actors would be needed to embody the different incarnations of the shape-changing spirit of the title; Kathryn Hunter played them all.

Hunter - who was advised at Rada to get rid of her Greek surname, Hadjipateras, in order to avoid being cast only as a gypsy - has been much praised for her ability to …

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Publication information: Article title: King Lear. Contributors: Clapp, Susannah - Author. Magazine title: New Statesman (1996). Volume: 126. Issue: 4324 Publication date: March 7, 1997. Page number: 40. © Not available. COPYRIGHT 1997 Gale Group.

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