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Perhaps Shakespeare’s greatest play of all, the tragedy of King Lear will be presented in March and April by the Lincoln Shakespeare Company at three Lincoln venues. The play opens on March 25th at the highly-praised Ruston Drill Hall, an outstanding new theatre space in central Lincoln developed by the City of Lincoln Council for the Ruston Trust. King Lear will be the first major drama production to be presented there and record audiences are expected. In the previous week, a gala opening will be staged at the Ruston Drill Hall and, as a contribution to this exciting event, the Lincoln Shakespeare Company will present on March 18th excerpts from their 2004 programme of plays, including King Lear.
King Lear is the story of an ageing king who misguidedly plans to divide his kingdom between his three daughters so that he may shed the burden of monarchy and live out the rest of his life cared for and supported by his daughters. His plan founders from the outset when his youngest daughter, Cordelia, refuses to flatter him at a formal court gathering and, displaying his tragic weaknesses – fear of loss of face and uncontrolled temper, Lear denies Cordelia her third of the kingdom and banishes his most devoted general, Kent, who attempts to intervene. Meanwhile, his loyal right-hand man, Gloucester, is unknowingly the victim of a vicious plot by his own son Edmund who plans his father’s death and the seizure of his dukedom, while effortlessly framing his innocent brother Edgar. The interwoven fates of the two old men, Lear and Gloucester, lead us through a moving and agonising sequence of events, but Lear’s journey through the play brings enormously altering revelations both to him and to the audience. He learns too late of the greatest and most fundamental values of existence whilst we, the audience, have them most movingly brought before us on the stage.
The play’s Director, Lindsey Slapp, an LSC veteran, praised his cast saying, “a good cast means a good performance and we certainly have the cast. I have long wanted to direct this wonderful play in which Shakespeare’s utterly believable characters leap out of every page”
The Lincoln Shakespeare Company will stage King Lear at the Ruston Drill Hall from 25th to 28th March, at the Broadbent Theatre, Wickenby on the 2nd and 3rd of April and at the Terry O’Toole Theatre in North Hykeham on 9th and 10th April. Tickets are priced as usual at £7-50 and £5-00 concessions. Lincoln ticket outlets are the Ruston Drill Hall (01522 873894), the North Kesteven Sports Centre (01522 883311), Goodies Sweet Shop in The Strait (01522 525307), Frape’s Bookshop in The Glory Hole (01522 511156), and The Whisky Shop, Bailgate (01522 537834) and online at www.littleboxoffice.com.
See also: King
Lear - Spring 2004
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