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Unstaging King Lear
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 October 2009
Abstract
In 2008, Singapore audiences were treated to two large-scale King Lear productions: the internationally acclaimed Royal Shakespeare Company's production, directed by Trevor Nunn, with Ian McKellen in the lead role, and Ho Tzu Nyen and Fran Borgia's The King Lear Project: A Trilogy. The two productions are drastically different in that the former is a production of King Lear proper, while the latter is an experimental project that uses Lear as a frame to explore, discover and critique the nature of stagecraft and audience perception through a series of notable Lear essays. The King Lear Project is not an adaptation of Lear, but a three-night performance about the play. Ho and Borgia's work questions if it is possible to stage Lear, and if there is in fact a ‘right’ and ‘proper’ way to do so. For local audiences, these questions are immensely provocative for several reasons, especially since the Nunn–McKellen Lear has since been declared – by way of critical reviews – the definitive King Lear. The metatheatricality of the Lear Project implicates audience members and demands an understanding from them through active engagement that is otherwise not required in conventional productions. Ho and Borgia's assumptions of audience perception are strikingly accurate and telling, and they consider the complex negotiations between literary and theatrical experiences, or what Ho calls ‘Word and Flesh’. By turning to the history and the processes of staging what is believed to be Shakespeare's most ‘unstageable’ tragedy, the Lear Project also questions the future of Shakespeare's modern theatre. This dossier, which includes an in-depth review of the play, a commentary by an actor in the play, and an interview with the author/director of the Lear Project, hopes to construct a critical and insightful understanding of the making and reception of this original and ambitious piece of work.
- Type
- Performance Dossier: Ho Tzu Nyen and Fran Borgia's The King Lear Project: A Trilogy
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © International Federation for Theatre Research 2009
References
NOTES
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9 Since Kaylene and Elizabeth have the same family names, I will refer to them by their given names from here on. This also turns out to be apt because their characters are named after their real names onstage.
10 To avoid confusion, readers should note that while many actors retain the same role through the course of the trilogy, this is not always the case. When there is a change of roles, the actors’ names are placed in parentheses after the characters.
11 All quotations from the play are from the original script. I am grateful to Paul Rae for directing me to Ho Tzu Nyen, who generously provided me with copies of the plays.
12 As with Kaylene and Elizabeth, Paul Rae's character is simply named Paul. When I refer to Paul by his given name, I associate him strictly as a character in the play. Otherwise, he will be addressed, according to convention, by his family name.
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