PRE SHOW BRIEFING FOR
DIRECTED BY MICHAEL HURST & BENJAMIN KILBY-HENSON
PRODUCTION NOTES
COMPANY
Auckland Theatre Company
VENUE
ASB Waterfront Theatre
DURATION
2 hours, 45 minutes including interval
ADVISORY
Contains depictions of violence, stage blood and weapons, smoke/ haze, strobe lighting, and themes of suicide.
ABOUT THE PLAY
Having built an empire, the ageing King Lear is poised to abdicate his crown. When he challenges his three daughters to compete for his land, his favourite refuses to play the game. Civilisation is thrust into chaos and Lear, broken by his own vanity, will be forced to confront who he is for the very first time.
SHAKESPEARE & KING LEAR
King Lear begins with a simple, foolish decision: a father divides up his daughters’ inheritance based on how much they can flatter him with words. The fairy-tale-like beginning is at odds to the chaos about to unfold. While some critics argue that King Lear is Shakespeare’s greatest work, one thing’s for sure: Lear beats all of Shakespeare’s plays when it comes to sheer intensity.
Even by modern standards, it is unrelenting in its depiction of extreme suffering and cruelty at a physical and emotional level. The catastrophes follow one after the other: family break-up, betrayal, a literal storm, bodily mutilation — and that’s only the first half. But Shakespeare’s aim was more than mere shock; after all, this was a writer at the top of his game.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Shakespeare wrote King Lear sometime between 1603-1606, around the same time he wrote the other great tragedies (Hamlet, Othello & Macbeth). He had recently built a successful open-air theatre called The Globe, critics were comparing him to famous Roman writers, and King James I thought highly enough of Shakespeare’s company to lend them his name. In short, William Shakespeare, playwright for The King’s Men, was on a roll.
Recent events may have provided fertile soil for Shakespeare’s imagination. King James I was ruler of three realms (England, Scotland and Ireland) and his accession to the throne ended a period of anxiety caused Queen Elizabeth I’s refusal to name an heir.
When writing King Lear, Shakespeare may have taken inspiration from a couple of local court cases which centred around a law called primogeniture; passing property on to the eldest child. In one case, a nobleman’s eldest daughter tried to have him declared insane so that she could take over his property. In another, earlier case, a nobleman divided his property amongst his daughters planning to stay with each in turn but was treated poorly by them.
THEMES
In King Lear, Shakespeare presents us with a world in which suffering is unavoidable and social hierarchy is tipped on its head. Never mind “tragic flaws”, even the characters who make morally sound decisions find themselves in situations not just punishing but so strange they might belong in an art-house film.
As events drive the protagonists towards madness, we are asked if madness is really the only sensible response to a seemingly chaotic and uncaring world. This massive and confronting question is like the black hole at the centre of King Lear, around which other ideas orbit. The play stresses the importance of knowing yourself, and not relying on the judgments of others. It also examines the relationship between authority and chaos.
Finally, at its most grounded, Lear is an unflinching portrait of old age and mental ill-health.
CREATIVE APPROACHES
In approaching an enormous play like this, the King Lear creative team have focused on ideas that seem particularly relevant to the here and now in 2023.
Power and selfishness:
The directors are also interested in the powerful people making selfish decisions, and the flowon effects of their choices. There are additional moments in this production where we glimpse a world beyond the main characters which is dealing with the consequences of their decisions.
Madness and objective truth:
When he isn’t in certain scenes, Lear watches the action through a reflective mirror. The creatives were drawn to Lear’s madness, and the effect this has on his perceptions of the world. They wondered if it would be possible to create a stage space in which the lines between objective and subjective reality are blurred, and Lear’s madness begins to “bleed” into the stage picture.
Gender and power:
Co-director and lead actor Michael Hurst is curious about the lack of mothers in the play. Would the presence of women with authority have changed the course of events? The directors’ casting choices have amplified this idea, re-casting the traditionally male roles of Kent, Edmund and The Fool with female actors.
Elizabethan Theatre:
Finally, the influence of Elizabethan theatres can be felt in the decision to stage King Lear in traverse. In this arrangement, the actors are not separated by a proscenium but instead share space with the audience. Eye contact can be made with the actors and also the audience on the other side of the stage. The resulting effect is one of inclusivity, and of private events being made public. The audience are not just witnesses, but participants in the events of the play.
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