King Lear

3-12 February

Shakespeare’s greatest tragedy but also his most human.

Presented by So What? Productions

The world has been turned upside down. Everything you thought you could count on turns out to be wrong, the people you thought you could trust muck everything up, and eventually you just start to think you’re going mad. And everyone makes mistakes. Just some of them have the power to change history.

Sound familiar?

King Lear unfolds in a world not so very different to yours, one where the former King has to stand by and watch other people stuff up in increasingly human ways. His tragedy is our tragedy: he gets things wrong, badly wrong. The challenge is to realise before it’s too late.

The point is that Lear is a human being: whether he’s 90 or 19, a King or a cretin, English or Ecuadorian. And somewhere along the line, we’ve lost sight of that.

So What? Productions' King Lear argues forcefully that we must connect with each other; once empathy fails us, we don’t recognise humanity and all is lost. A live theatre environment presents us with an almost unique chance to look you in the face and demand that you take notice of the people around you. Lear goes through a lot to realise what it is to be a human being. His eyes are opened to just what it means to be alive, and have the power to do something about it. And he screams. He screams because there are so many people in the world. And so little chance that you are going to matter.

Shakespeare’s greatest tragedy but also his most human. An ensemble of student theatre makers rips the heart out of this grand old play, stick it on a spike and shove it in your face. How are we to confront life alone in a cruel and godless world?