Sasswagen's King Lear - A staged reading and open discussion Friday 17th January | 6.30pm
Actors Arthur Godden, Emilia Harrild, Ellen Timothy, and Benjamin Victor have teamed up with director Arne Pohlmeier to adapt William Shakespeare’s King Lear for four actors.
None of us are old enough to play King Lear. In fact, we think the old man’s hold on the play is overrated. In stead we are choosing to highlight the young people: the sons and daughters making up the bulk of the play’s cast of characters. We are unearthing a play about fraught family dynamics and a world in which the old have dropped the ball and left the young to pick up the pieces.
“(W)e that are young,/ Shall never see so much, nor live so long.” (Edgar in King Lear)
Now, you may disagree. Perhaps you have raised children, toiled and sacrificed to give them a good start in life and might sympathise with Lear and Gloucester, might even blame the young for pushing you, sorry, them over the edge. After all, as Lear sees it, “sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child”.
So, let’s hash it out!
Watch and listen as the four actors present their take on Lear - hear how they’ve cut the text down to size and see what they’ve done to give the play (and the patriarchy!) a good ol’ kick up the backside - and then join the cast, their director, and your fellow audience members for an informed, boozy and jovial session of feedback, questions, answers and banter.
Actors Arthur Godden, Emilia Harrild, Ellen Timothy, and Benjamin Victor have teamed up with director Arne Pohlmeier to adapt William Shakespeare’s King Lear for four actors.
None of us are old enough to play King Lear. In fact, we think the old man’s hold on the play is overrated. In stead we are choosing to highlight the young people: the sons and daughters making up the bulk of the play’s cast of characters. We are unearthing a play about fraught family dynamics and a world in which the old have dropped the ball and left the young to pick up the pieces.
“(W)e that are young,/ Shall never see so much, nor live so long.” (Edgar in King Lear)
Now, you may disagree. Perhaps you have raised children, toiled and sacrificed to give them a good start in life and might sympathise with Lear and Gloucester, might even blame the young for pushing you, sorry, them over the edge. After all, as Lear sees it, “sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child”.
So, let’s hash it out!
Watch and listen as the four actors present their take on Lear - hear how they’ve cut the text down to size and see what they’ve done to give the play (and the patriarchy!) a good ol’ kick up the backside - and then join the cast, their director, and your fellow audience members for an informed, boozy and jovial session of feedback, questions, answers and banter.
Actors Arthur Godden, Emilia Harrild, Ellen Timothy, and Benjamin Victor have teamed up with director Arne Pohlmeier to adapt William Shakespeare’s King Lear for four actors.
None of us are old enough to play King Lear. In fact, we think the old man’s hold on the play is overrated. In stead we are choosing to highlight the young people: the sons and daughters making up the bulk of the play’s cast of characters. We are unearthing a play about fraught family dynamics and a world in which the old have dropped the ball and left the young to pick up the pieces.
“(W)e that are young,/ Shall never see so much, nor live so long.” (Edgar in King Lear)
Now, you may disagree. Perhaps you have raised children, toiled and sacrificed to give them a good start in life and might sympathise with Lear and Gloucester, might even blame the young for pushing you, sorry, them over the edge. After all, as Lear sees it, “sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child”.
So, let’s hash it out!
Watch and listen as the four actors present their take on Lear - hear how they’ve cut the text down to size and see what they’ve done to give the play (and the patriarchy!) a good ol’ kick up the backside - and then join the cast, their director, and your fellow audience members for an informed, boozy and jovial session of feedback, questions, answers and banter.