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2004: King Lear
26 to 31 July 2004

Hatherop Castle

King Lear is a dark tale of corrupted power, raw politics and sex.  It shows the vast sweep of the problems of a society from King to beggars.  It is a tragedy that ranges from extremes of terrifying violence to the intimacy of family drama.

"Lear " is one of Shakespeare's finest plays, combining as it does grand political vision with intense psycho-sexual drama.  The concept of tragedy is often simplified to that of a great man brought low by a single flaw.  Lear exposes the triteness of such an explanation.  Lear as King creates his own world and his own family, and then reaps the consequences of his intemperate actions.

The normal understanding of King Lear is summed up in the line "How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child. "... and yet Lear has unconsciously bred serpents.

Lear's attempt to satisfy his own personal desires by controlling his family's destiny, and his own, results in his betrayal and abandonment to the storm and spiralling madness.  Why?  What created a family filled with such venom?

Shakespeare paints a picture which is later mirrored in the words of Lord Acton "Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely ".

Set against the stunning backdrop of Hatherop Castle, the Cotswold Arcadians' production of King Lear was an exciting exposition of extreme power, violence and its interplay with the family dynamic.  In its exploration of dark and violent themes it was moving and ultimately terrifying.

A play for our time ... and all times.

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