Beck Center offers a well-acted but ill-conceived ‘King Lear’ Bob Abelman Cleveland Jewish News, The News Herald, The Morning Journal “Nothing will come of nothing,” says Lear, the elderly king of England, when his favorite daughter refuses to dote on him the way her opportunistic, two-faced older sisters do. And so, upon the honorable but undemonstrative Cordelia’s disinheritance and exile, Lear’s great tragedy – triggered by his own blind vanity and arguably the greatest in Shakespeare’s canon – is set into motion. Also set into motion by this declaration are creative, often audacious choices made by modern-day directors of “King Lear” who feel challenged to do something more with this remarkable play than what the Bard’s limited stage directions suggest. The current Beck Center for the Arts production, under Eric Schmeidl’s direction, has made innovations that do not seem to match the universe “King Lear’s” characters inhabit or add much value to this play. But the acting is superb. For more of this review, go to: www.clevelandjewishnews.com/columnists/bob_abelman/