Season Select: King Lear

KING LEAR

By William Shakespeare
Directed by Tim Ocel

Playing: Hill Theatre | August 9 - September 28
Featuring: Brain Mani, La Shawn Banks, Nathan Barlow, Sarah Day, Jim DeVita, Rasell Holt, Chiké Johnson, Jessica Ko, Josh Krause, Samantha Newcomb, James Ridge, Nancy Rodriguez, Ronald Román-Meléndez and Triney Sandoval
Genre: Shakespeare Tragedy/ History
Last Seen at APT: 2016
Go If You Liked: Hamlet (2022), Oedipus (2021), Macbeth (2019), Death of a Salesman (2016)

About King Lear

Lear rides in on an emotional avalanche, bearing with him perhaps the greatest of Shakespeare’s tragedies. An aloof leader learns the truth about his place in the hearts of kith and kin and lashes out with the fury of a scorned king; his rage launching events that spin out of control with increasing speed. The void left in his wake offers fertile feeding ground for the power-hungry, and a graveyard for those who oppose his whims. But within that maelstrom lives some of the Bard’s most moving verse, offering moments of sparkling oasis where hope finds its place to shine. A parable about wisdom that comes not with age, but with empathy; a deeply relevant classic best seen under the sheltering stars.

King Lear carries with it a fascinating history that speaks to our human obsession with tragedy. For those who studied Aristotle’s Poetics in school, the three basic elements of tragedy – rank, moral ambiguity and hamartia, or the “fatal flaw” – can all be found within the first scene, when Lear divides his kingdom among his three daughters. And while the scene seems to set up a rather straightforward path for the action, the ending result is far more catastrophic than anyone could predict.

First performed in December of 1606, Shakespeare was no stranger to writing tragedies at this point in his career. Within the decade, he had penned both Hamlet (1600) and Othello (1604), and would go on to write Macbeth (1606) following Lear. What separates Lear from his cohort of tragic heroes is his age and his pride. He, unlike Othello, is not tricked and betrayed by his mistrust; nor is he like Hamlet or Macbeth, younger men who are either ultimately killed by their lack of action or abundance of ambition. He’s older and already leads an established kingdom, giving him even more to lose over the course of the play.

In her 2021 book, This is Shakespeare, author Emma Smith points to society’s changing interest in these different tragic archetypes, referencing that throughout the 19^th century, Hamlet was regarded as the pivotal tragedy of the cannon. Scholars who championed it often could find some sort of reflection mirrored within the brooding, introspective Hamlet at the center. In a post-World Wars era, however, Lear has since risen in the ranks due to its scale of destruction and ambivalence towards justice.

Even to Shakespeare’s very first audiences, the ending of King Lear felt like a moral misstep. Playwright Nahum Tate wrote the adapted The History of King Lear only 75 years after the Shakespeare’s original to include a happier ending where a reformed Lear marries off the virtuous Cordelia to Edgar, restoring the kingdom.

Tate’s adaptation would not be the final spin on Lear. The story has been reimagined time and time again, exchanging the English setting for a Japanese empire like in Akira Kurosawa’s critically acclaimed 1985 film, Ran, or swapping a kingdom for a media dynasty as in HBO’s series Succession.

Regardless of your introduction to Lear and his daughters, the story feels immortal and cathartic, and an excellent choice for the team we’ve assembled, helmed by director Tim Ocel.

Artistic Director Brenda DeVita Says:

We last produced Lear back in 2016. As Shakespearean tragedies go, that’s a pretty quick turnaround for us. But, honestly, 2016 feels like 100 years ago. And this will be a very different Lear, experienced in a very different time. Our director, Tim Ocel – his ability to find new threads in stories that are centuries old is like a super power. He is constantly turning over words and finding new meaning beneath them – as he did with Our Town last year, and Stones in His Pockets in 2022, and in all the other stories he’s told at APT and around the country. And we couldn’t be more thrilled to have Brian Mani as our Lear. He is just going to be tremendous. You’ve seen him on our stage for more than 20 years, stealing scenes as Falstaff (in both Henry IV and V, plus Merry Wives, plus An Improbable Fiction), as well as holding audiences rapt with his utterly heartbreaking and relatable humanity in plays like Death of a Salesman and Of Mice and Men, and too many others to mention here. Brian and Tim have worked together on many other shows, and have this incredible connection and love for story and language. And when you’re doing Lear, having that relationship between the director and the actor in the title role isn’t just a perk, it’s an absolute necessity. And the cast includes La Shawn Banks as Kent, and Jim DeVita as Gloucester, and Samantha Newcomb as Cordelia. And Chiké Johnson, Josh Krause, Rasell Holt, Nathan Barlow, Triney Sandoval, Ron Román-Meléndez, just for starters. It’s a dream team from the actors to designers, and we are so proud of the work that’s already being done on this production. It’s going to be absolutely unforgettable.