King Lear

BY William Shakespeare

DIRECTED AND ADAPTED BY KARIN COONROD

Produced by: La MaMa Experimental Theater & Compagnia de’ Colombari

Compagnia de’ Colombari’s KING LEAR is a primal, physical, and potent “paper crown” Lear that strips the Shakespearean classic to its essence. Karin Coonrod utilizes her signature “multiplicity” to shift and deepen audiences’ connection with the characters. Ten diverse actors, ranging in age and gender, embody King Lear at the beginning and conduct a radical takeover of the text and space. Their unity fragments as they tear off their paper crowns and transform into other roles, competing for influence and diminishing the legion of Lears. Through a vigorous exploration of the characters’ egos, motivations, and power dynamics, the actors delve deeply into the internal and external journey of a stubborn, fractured soul who must lose everything to find himself. Transformation takes place in the apocalypse. Coonrod’s immersive production commands us to, as Kent demands of King Lear, “See better.” The play, explored in five “movements,” is adapted and directed by Karin Coonrod with long-time Colombari collaborators Frank London (original music) and Oana Botez (costumes), a talented team of designers, and a diverse cast of ten actors playing King Lear and other characters.

“This riveting play returns for a brief, unmissable run. In a stripped-down, beautifully envisioned production by director Karin Coonrod’s Compagnia de’ Colombari, every actor plays the king. Lear is the state, the state is Lear, and both are no more than a paper crown, until the final extraordinary moments when the monarch is at last revealed as mortal, frail, and alone”. —Sara Holdren New York Magazine

“The play is a buffet for the senses…Compagnia de’ Colombari shows the audience a deep look into their own psyches and a few hard truths about how to trust people and why. Most important, though, they show them an all-around good time.” 

— Eleanor Pollack, The New Haven Independent

For More Information Click Here.