BY MICHAEL SOMMERS

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Theater for a New Audience and director Arin Arbus offer a stark, supple staging of “King Lear” with a good company headed by Michael Pennington, who is wonderfully subtle as the maddened monarch. The elegant simplicity of this rendition is enhanced by the embrace of the courtyard-style environs of TFANA’s new Polansky Shakespeare Center, where the production opened on Thursday.

A rusty metal thrust stage is complimented at the rear by a vast rusty metal wall that eventually leans forward for the scenes on the heath. The Spartan nature of Riccardo Hernandez’s setting extends to the somber yet smart mid-20th century military fashions designed by Susan Hilferty. Augmented by the clear shades of Marcus Doshi’s lighting, these lucid visuals solidly support the players, whose work is finely detailed and intelligent.

A notable British actor who rarely appears here, Michael Pennington is a compact, silver-bearded Lear whose relatively low-keyed performance is down to earth and ultimately touching. Depicting Lear as a predominantly gentle soul given to bursts of temper that he obviously soon regrets, Pennington rises to the emotional demands of the storm scenes, when he rages defiance with satisfying fury. Afterwards, spent by his frenzy, Pennington’s Lear interestingly suggests a moonstruck character out of a Beckett play, especially when he banters with Christopher McCann’s sightless yet oddly serene Gloucester.

These two fathers, variously betrayed by their children, provide the palpably beating hearts at the core of Arbus’ thoughtful interpretation of the tragedy as a family story.  Less of a star vehicle than usual, this “King Lear” is an even-handed group portrait of different generations in conflict.

Her lips twisting in dissatisfaction, Rachel Pickup portrays Goneril as a poisonous blond adulterer who cheats on Graham Winton’s mild-mannered Albany with Mark H. Dold’s snide, sneaky Oswald. Cocking her head and flicking her wrist, Bianca Amato is a cool and studied Regan whose Lear-like outburst of rage over Gloucester gives off an erotic heat that is shared by Saxon Palmer’s Cornwall.

In contrast to her mean-girl sisters, who both are obviously drawn to the no-nonsense Edmund manfully embodied by Chandler Williams, a faintly lisping Lilly Englert appears to be rather a prig as Cordelia. Also acting on the side of dubious is Jake Horowitz as a boyish, gimpy Fool. The nicest character among the younger set is a kindly Edgar who is gracefully played by Jacob Fishel.

The director paces the play briskly with an extended first act – the break occurs after the blinding scene – and a second act that features a surreal evocation of the battle sequence that is created by Michael Attias’ squalling music and his discordant sound design co-credited to Nicholas Pope. The cogency of Arbus’ production in nearly every respect of its staging, visuals and acting results in a “King Lear” well worth catching in Brooklyn.

“King Lear” continues through May 4 at the Polansky Shakespeare Center, 262 Ashland Place, Brooklyn. Call (866) 811-4111 or visit www.tfana.org.