_SPOILER WARNING: This article contains detailed descriptions of the plot and characters of _The Upstart Crow_, currently running at the Gielgud Theatre in London._ Last week, Gemma analysed

both the positive and problematic elements in Ben Elton’s _The Upstart Crow_, the stage adaptation of his popular BBC sitcom of the same name (minus a definite article). Whilst Elton has

clearly done his homework in smartly weaving features of several Shakespearean plots into his play — including _Twelfth Night _and _Othello — _too often this is undercut by the writer’s

willingness to simply go for the lowest of low-hanging fruit when it comes to ‘topical’ humour. For all its Shakespearean dexterity, _The Upstart Crow _is also rife with lazy gags about

Elton’s fictionalised Will Shakespeare (David Mitchell) instead uses it to guide his own life choices — a plot development which allows the writer to put adaptations of a handful of key

_Lear _scenes into _The Upstart Crow_. After inviting his daughters Susanna (Helen Monks) and Judith (Danielle Phillips) to London from Stratford-upon-Avon, Will reveals his Lear-like plan

to divide his estate in three between them and his landlord’s daughter Kate (Gemma Whelan), allowing him to focus on his work. Initially at least, Elton shows a degree of deftness in his

utilisation of _Lear_, setting up the jealous Susanna and Judith as the Goneril and Regan to the sweet-natured Kate’s Cordelia. As Will asks the three young women ‘Which of you shall we say

doth love us most?’ (_Lear_, 1.1.50), Elton appropriates Act 1 Scene 1 of Shakespeare’s play with both postmodern humour and perhaps a surprising level of sincerity. Susanna and Judith both

participate in the version of _Lear_’s opening scene, and step outside it to provide a running commentary on the events unfolding through gossipy asides to each other — and, of course, the

audience. As Kate tells Will she loves him ‘according to [her] bond, no more nor less’ (1.1.93), the sisters seethe over what they see as Kate obviously one-upping their over-the-top

declarations of love (which, we can only presume, will be reused by Shakespeare when he does come to write _Lear_) through her modest and truthful approach. Then, after Will disowns Kate

through what will become Lear’s speech telling Cordelia ‘Thy truth then be thy dower’ (1.1.109), Judith and Susanna offer commentary which both mocks their father’s myopic inability to

recognise Kate’s honesty and relishes Kate’s comeuppance. Alongside his version of Act 1 Scene 1, Elton has Susanna and Judith not only take on the Goneril and Regan roles, but also the role

of audience members, if not breaking the fourth wall then certainly bending it. The sisters’ comments draw attention to _Lear _— and by extension _The Upstart Crow_ — as a piece of theatre,

turning Lear’s blindness to the disingenuous nature of his two elder daughters and the honesty of the youngest from tragic to ridiculous. As a result, Susanna and Judith offer both a nod to

Shakespeare aficionados through their higher understanding, and well-pitched in-jokes to make them feel as though they’re getting something from Elton’s play those not familiar with _Lear

_might be missing. In keeping with _The Upstart Crow_’s sitcom origins, the scene is ostensibly played for laughs. However, both Elton and director Sean Foley also give Mitchell and Whelan

the space to play their Cordelia and Lear roles with sensitivity. In between Susanna and Judith’s humorous asides, there’s no doubt that Will’s rage is authentically Lear-like thanks to

Mitchell’s powerful performance during the scene. Similarly, Whelan’s portrayal of Kate’s pained reaction creates a response reminiscent of past emotional portrayals of Cordelia on both

stage and screen. The use of _Lear _in this scene, to reveal authentic emotion as characters connect to each other through the play’s words, reminds me of past stage and screen productions

which have appropriated the play in similar ways. Both Kristian Levring’s 2000 film _The King is Alive_ and, more recently, Brian Elerding’s _Lear’s Shadow _— a 2017 stage production adapted

into a film the following year — make use of the Lear-Cordelia relationship in a similarly affective manner. Both adaptations position _Lear _as a play within their own narrative —

something which _The Upstart Crow _also does (albeit a play which, in the world of Elton’s play, hasn’t been written yet). Both _The King is Alive _and _Lear’s Shadow_ also feature

characters taking on, and connecting through, the Lear and Cordelia roles in order to emotionally work through a traumatic experience: respectively, being stranded in the desert, and

surviving a serious car accident. Away from the _Lear _narrative, Elton features conversations in which Kate discusses Will’s reluctance to deal with the death of his young son Hamnet, again

linking the characters’ apparent adoption of, and mutual connection through, the Cordelia and Lear roles to emotional trauma. The _Lear _appropriation continues pleasingly once Will leaves

London to stay with his daughters in Stratford-upon-Avon. After both Judith and Susanna refuse to put up with his demands, Will wanders through the Warwickshire countryside in a manner and

costume that brings to mind the recent Lears of Ian McKellen and Anthony Sher (and no doubt several others) facing the storm in Act 3 Scene 2 of _Lear_. Just as his daughters drew attention

to the theatrical absurdity of the love test in Act 1, Will’s servant Bottom (Rob Rouse) takes on a postmodern version of the Fool’s role to comment on the ludicrous nature of Will’s

Lear-like descent into madness, nudging the audience to reflect on their willing suspension of disbelief when experiencing _Lear _on the stage. Once again, however, Mitchell performs Lear

with authenticity, allowing Elton’s appropriation of the storm scene to simultaneously come across as both affective and subversive. Unfortunately, however, Elton’s appropriation of _Lear

_ultimately concludes in the same vein as his wider production, opting for crass and uncomfortable humour over anything more nuanced. Will’s Lear story concludes as a mash-up between _Lear

_and _Romeo and Juliet_ as Kate and Will’s appropriated narratives combine. In order to avoid the advances of Dr. John Hall (Mark Heap), Kate has taken a potion to give her the appearance of

being dead, leading to Will mourning Kate in the style of Lear’s final entrance in Act 5 Scene 3. After some slapstick based around Will’s inability to emulate Lear’s carrying of Cordelia

with the seemingly lifeless Kate, the fusion between _Lear _and _Romeo and Juliet _suddenly takes a far less lighthearted tone. Instead of cradling the supposedly dead body of his ‘sometime

daughter’ (1.1.121) as Lear does to Cordelia in the closing moments of _Lear_, Will instead emulates Romeo mourning Juliet in Act 5 Scene 3 of the other tragedy in attempting to kiss Kate in

her lifeless condition. As uncomfortable as this is to witness, Elton and Foley take things further, with Will choosing to straddle Kate despite the suggestion of Bottom that this might not

be appropriate. As Gemma notes, the scene is ‘ played for laughs rather than any greater commentary on early modern or indeed 21st Century female power’, subjects that Kate is consciously

linked to by Elton elsewhere in _The Upstart Crow_. But the way Elton chooses to conclude Will’s Lear_ _narrative also undercuts his much more nuanced incorporation of _Lear _earlier in the

production. Both Lear’s entrance with Cordelia, and Romeo’s final soliloquy, at the end of their respective plays are arguably two of the most affective moments in all of Shakespeare —

certainly scenes which have transcended their position within the canon to become recognisable depictions of tragedy in wider culture. Elton cheapens both scenes in one fell swoop,

transforming Lear’s mourning of Cordelia into something unnecessarily salacious for the sake of a few laughs, worse still seeming to do so at the expense of recent movements such as #MeToo.

I’m absolutely not saying Shakespeare should be treated with unquestionable reverence, or that his plays are above parody — Elton’s appropriation of both Act 1 Scene 1 and Act 3 Scene 2 of

_Lear_ prove not only that subverting Shakespearean drama can be enjoyable, but also that he himself is entirely capable of doing so successfully. But Elton’s corruption of the final scene

of _Lear_ is sadly endemic of the problems, both underlying and overt, with _The Upstart Crow_. At best, the play is woefully outdated in its approach to comedy. At worst, Elton and Foley

are wilfully using important social and cultural issues to glean cheap laughs, all while moving Shakespearean appropriation backwards rather than forwards in its power to give often

marginalised groups a voice.