Forty years ago a young David Hayman appeared as Hamlet at the Glasgow Citizens in a production so outrageous, by provincial standards anyway, that  there were calls for the theatre, already struggling to survive in the slum clearance wreckage of the Gorbals, to be closed down for good. Instead, it was a turning point, ushering in an era where, for a generation, the theatre became one of the most exciting in Europe and a talisman for the city’s revival.
 
Now the Citz is rebuilding again, under new director Dominic Hill, and Hayman, now in his 60s and a familiar face on film and television, is also back. Since no-one can remember the last time King Lear was produced in Scotland apart from a couple of open air attempts by the Bard in the Botanics people, the anticipation surrounding Wednesday’s opening night was palpable.
 
In today’s terms, there is nothing outrageous about this production, except perhaps the confidence required in any company outside the nationals to put 12 principals and as many acting students from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland on a stage. The setting is non specifically contemporary, there is some filleting of the text, notably in the Fool and storm scenes, to bring it in around three hours, and there are the carcases of several old pianos scattered around the edges of the stage which provide a percussive and eerie soundtrack throughout.
 
But in general, and typically, Hill trusts the play and the strong cast he has assembled to show and tell Lear’s agonising journey from a king to a man, sparked off by his ungrateful daughters at an opening party scene where the lower depths of his kingdom look on.
 
Kathryn Howden as Goneril and Shauna Macdonald as Regan are a daunting duo but they meet their match in Paul Higgins as the loyal Kent.  In disguise, he moves from self-effacing bureaucrat to something like his foul-mouthed spin doctor character Jamie in “The Thick of It”, turning the scenes where he goads the households of Goneril and Regan into some of the strongest of  the night.
 
Hayman himself makes a better madman than he does a king but his commitment is total and his final scenes with Cordelia are as tender as you could wish for. The lower depths are back at the final curtain. Will we ever learn?
 
King Lear, Glasgow Citizens, until May 12.