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It is a common reflex to reach for Aristotle鈥檚 Poetics to determine what a good tragedy should be. Aristotle says there are good reasons to enjoy a good tragedy, especially if its聽ergon听辞谤听telos聽(its function) works well. This function is to trigger the pleasure (in an audience) of experiencing聽.

According to Aristotle, catharsis concerns the purgation or 鈥渞elease鈥� of troubling emotions such as pity and fear. While we tend to bottle up these emotions in everyday life, the tragic theatre provides a safe environment to bring them to the surface. As we sympathise with the plight of the tragic protagonist, this catharsis can be both healthy and humanising.

Aristotle also created a聽聽for the six core components that make up a good tragedy. The 鈥減lot鈥� (course of action) was paramount, followed by the importance of the characters (not so much their physical expressions, but their dispositions). These 鈥渃haracters鈥� were caused or generated by the plot according to the moral decisions they were forced to make. Next came the characters鈥� 鈥渢houghts鈥� (or聽dianoia), the language of the play (its tone and its gravitas), followed by the inclusion of song and spectacle (but not too much, or it becomes a comedy).

Bell Shakespeare鈥檚 King Lear, directed by Peter Evans, delivers excitingly well on most of Aristotle鈥檚 pointers for a good tragedy.

King Lear stands as a colossus of a play in Shakespeare鈥檚 achievements, among the grandest efforts of his imagination. But Lear鈥檚 dynastic downfall from being a king, to realising himself a mere father, to becoming a homeless old man, creates an epic sweep that could be difficult to contain in an intimate theatre called the 鈥淣utshell鈥�.

The Neilson Nutshell, Bell Shakespeare鈥檚 primary theatre in Sydney, is a flexible space which can seat up to 300 people. Because Shakespeare鈥檚 plays tend to be grand in scope, the Nutshell (named suitably after a line in Hamlet, 鈥淚 could be bounded in a nutshell, and count myself a king of infinite space鈥�) can be a tricky space to manage.

But Anna Tregloan鈥檚 enchanting set design, a rounded stage of rolled gold flooring with a black centre-spot for characters to direct their soliloquies around to the different banks of seating, creates a symbolic and mesmerising space. This allows for a fluent orchestration of the play鈥檚 many diversions. And hovering above the stage is a gold cosmic spiral, like a galaxy, and centred disc (the sun?) that proffers up a celestial expansion of the play鈥檚 existential themes.

King Lear is about an ageing king (Robert Menzies) who decides to retire with plans to divide his kingdom among his three daughters according to how well they articulate their love for him. When his eldest daughters, Goneril (Lizzie Schebesta) and Regan (Tamara Lee Bailey), flatter and fawn over him, he rewards them with large territories, even though they secretly dislike their father.

When his youngest daughter, Cordelia (Melissa Kahraman), refuses to stroke her father鈥檚 ego, the king misconstrues her honesty as treachery and banishes her from the realm. As Goneril and Regan assume full power of the kingdom, they treat their father with scorn, and Lear begins to realise his mistake. But through the processes of tragic reckoning, Lear finds solace in recognising his own authentic self as an ageing man, rather than his former political identity as a powerful monarch. As noted by the program, it is 鈥渁 domestic crisis wrapped in a political crisis inside an existential one鈥�.

But, of course, many things are realised far too late. With one of Shakespeare鈥檚 most well-liked villains, Edmund the Bastard (Darius Williams), determining to turn everyone鈥檚 lives upside down in his attempts to quash his legitimate brother Edgar (Alex King), the political mayhem spills out onto the naked moors and into the famous punishing storm of Shakespeare鈥檚 play.

Menzies is outstanding as a physically feeble yet emotionally volatile Lear. Janine Watson is superb in her role as Lear鈥檚 best adviser, Kent, steadfast in loyalty, and often downplaying the tenor of her expressions without surrendering fervency or force.

Williams hits all the right notes as a salacious and manipulative Edmund. And Kahraman doubles very well as the Jester, robust yet constrained in chiding Lear, drawing laughter from the wit of Shakespeare鈥檚 fool more than banking on showy spectacle (Aristotle would be proud!).

Bailey and Schebesta give strong performances as the mature sisters who can be stern, yet sensual; scheming, yet vulnerable to Edmund鈥檚 manipulations. And King as Edgar (and King of France) is always charismatic, but perhaps a touch too stylised for the erratic character of 鈥淧oor Tom鈥�.

Overall, the cast delivers the lines with force and clarity, allowing the plot to shine and emphasising the juicy amount of familial insults in this play (some of聽!).

This King Lear erupts splendidly in the confined space, though Aristotle might suggest Tregloan鈥檚 monochrome charcoal costuming in the first half might dull the ability of first-timers to recognise character distinctions. In Aristotle鈥檚 hierarchy, costumes might sit between plot and character. Although they are traditionally associated with character, the characters need to be recognised to follow the plot.

Although the intimate space probably determined the tableau staging of the play鈥檚 dying moments, the final laments of Lear were heartrending, thus capping off an 鈥渆njoyable鈥� experience of Shakespeare鈥檚 woeful tragedy.

Dr Kirk Dodd is a scholar of Shakespeare, rhetoric and creative process. He is interested the ways that authors trained in the classics used rhetoric to create works of literature, and the intersections between poetics and rhetoric. This story was first published on . Hero image:聽Brett Boardman/Bell Shakespeare.