IT’S a well-worn Pete Postlethwaite fact, generally downplayed by the man himself, that he was once described by Steven Spielberg as the best actor in the world.

But an educated guess says it may well be more of an honour for him simply to be deigned the best to ever grace the Everyman stage.

King Lear, at the Everyman, is one of the most eagerly anticipated Culture Year events, and expectations were high.

Award-winning director Rupert Goold, who has already made a huge impact as one of theatre’s hottest talents, is widely attracting as many superlatives as his Liverpudlian Lear.

And last night they showed it was with good reason.

Lear, never the most accessible work of Shakespeare, gets off to a slow start as there is so much scene to set and so many strands of plot. Broken up with two intervals, the pace picks up significantly after the first, drawing the audience in closer and closer until the final, bloody climax.

Postlethwaite’s king is played with a gentle, ever-present humour and vulnerability. Lear is no enraged, roaring yet doddering fool, but prey to a sympathetic confusion.

His insanity, tinged as it is with a sort of whimsy, is a contrast to the grisly, sometimes stomach-churning, and deadly deeds going on round him.

His daughters, Regan (Charlotte Randal) and Goneril (Caroline Faber), and the banished yet pure-hearted Cordelia (Amanda Hale) are excellent, in command of their dialogue and bursting with their own drives and passions.

JonJo O’Neill uses Irish charm to humanise the misdoings of psychotic bastard son Edmund, channelling his soliloquies with vigour and without the indulgent overacting they can be prone to.

Goold is clearly unafraid to grab Shakespeare’s text firmly and give it a vibrant shake. Contemporary touches and mischievous additions are executed with confidence and imagination.

But this production has been tailor-made rather than thrust upon Postlethwaite’s beloved creative alma mater, and that shows.

It is easy to get swept into the all-encompassing storm (yes, it really rains), and almost feel part of the action, as in the opening scene the characters clap and sing For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow to Lear as he emerges from the audience.

This Lear sinks into the skin of the viewer to provide a truly memorable piece of theatre.

vickyanderson