| About the play |
Howard Barker’s prequel to Shakespeare’s play of a similar name is inspired by the Bard’s lack of any reference to Lear’s wife (or his daughters’ mother). His conjecture for the lapse is that it is deliberate and defensible: ‘This hatred, while unjust, may have been necessary’.
Subtitled ‘The Pursuit of the Good’, Seven Lears shows a king caught between a desire for decency and instinctive cruelty, and between his lover and her daughter, whom he marries, with ruinous consequences.
Lear’s journey is shown in seven phases, from childhood to late kingship. Further unexpected storylines see a beggar ennobled as the Duke of Gloucester, Kent lusting after the king’s wife and an intelligent cabinet minister given the job of Lear’s Fool.
Written with no palpable gesture towards Shakespeare’s language, Barker offers an idiom that is lyrical, realistic and elliptical. His intellect and shrewdness are, as ever, matched by a sardonic sense of humour and a deep humanity.
East 15’s production, directed by Jenny Stephens, sets the play in a studio setting and is performed by its graduating BA Acting students.
EAST 15 ACTING SCHOOL has produced actors, directors, theatre practitioners and technicians for stage, TV, film and radio for almost 50 years.
The School grew from the work of Joan Littlewood's famed Theatre Workshop which broke new ground, re-interpreting the classics for a modern age, commissioning new plays and creating an ensemble capable of inventing new work. They combined inspired, improvisational brilliance with method, technique, research, text analysis and the expression of genuine emotions.
Much of the Littlewood approach was based upon the theories of Stanislavski and the company inherited the socially committed spirit of the Unity Theatre movement that introduced many new voices to British theatre.
In September 2000, East 15 merged with the University of Essex, opening an exciting new chapter in the history of both institutions. Several million pounds have been spent on new buildings and facilities at East 15 since then, including a church in Southend, now renovated and converted into Clifftown Studios as a state-of-the-art theatre and performance space. |
