Lear's Shadow

“It’s Shakespeare, Jim, but not as we know it”

SPOILER ALERT: At the end of Shakespeare’s play, Lear dies. His last words are “Look, there” His faithful follower and protector, Kent, wishes him a speedy release. “Break heart”, he urges.

What I’m wondering is: what happens then?

Come on, we all wonder that, sometimes, don’t we? What happens after you die?

Well, that’s where this show starts…

A man in a dressing gown shuffles in, carrying a box. From the box he pulls the objects, people, quarrels, wrongs, jokes, mistakes, laughter and regrets that add up to a life.

Over the next seventy minutes he retreads the path that brought him here, to This Great Stage of Fools: the loss of his daughters, the loss of his knights, the loss of his fool, the loss of his wits... oh, and the storm. Don't forget the storm. When The Rain Came.

Using only Shakespeare's words (reordered, repurposed, and often repeated) Lear's Shadow is a mischievous, engaging reflection on Shakespeare's great domestic tragedy.

Content Warning: this piece contains vivid depictions of Very Poor Parenting.