July 20, 2007

The Fortune Theatre and The Bacchanals present

William Shakespeare’s

KING LEAR

ROSE RISES TO ROYAL CHALLENGE

Veteran film and theatre actor Mick Rose has taken on Shakespeare’s greatest work with the opening night in just two weeks! After Edward Petherbridge, the actor who was to play Lear, had taken ill, director David Lawrence, sought out Rose. "He’s the only actor I know with the skill and guts to take on Lear within the timeframe we had. There has been an upside to not getting our Lear too early – King Lear is an astonishing text, and we’ve found so much in it that we couldn’t have if we’d just been focused on the title role," says Lawrence.

Over the months that lead Edward Petherbridge in Britain and director David Lawrence in NZ communicated daily by phone and email, the co-producers battled ‘hurricanoes’ on the blasted heath of funding knock-backs, winning through to a viable position just as Edward arrived in Wellington, lines learned and ready to start rehearsal. But sudden illness put him in hospital. A combination of changed medication and the long flight, apparently.

Optimistic he would soon be joining them, the rest of the cast worked on … But it was not to be. With huge reluctance Edward had to concede he would not be fit enough to take on what is one of the most demanding roles in classical drama. And Wellington actor Mick Rose has stepped into the breach. Mick’s no stranger to King Lear, his illustrious career began with his playing King Lear in the 1988 Victoria University Summer Shakespeare, and was again part of King Lear in 1997.

Mick joins Erin Banks (Cordelia), Jacqueline Nairn (Regan), Amy Tarleton (Goneril), Bruce Phillips (the Earl of Gloucester), Malcolm Murray (the Earl of Kent), Alex Greig (Edmund), Sam Snedden (Edgar), Salesi Le’ota (Oswald), Phil Grieve (the Duke of Albany), Alistair Browning (the Duke of Cornwall), and David Goldthorpe (Curan).

King Lear is an astonishing study of the human condition. As the play commences, Lear’s kingdom is carefully ordered. But as his mind crumbles, the entire realm becomes bestial, revealing the savage in many and the saint in few.

Te Whaea, The National Dance and Drama Centre
Preview Performances: August 1&2 7pm

Season: August 3&4 at 7pm and August 5 at 4pm
$25 waged, $22 concession and $20 for groups of 10+

Bookings phone 0800-EDMUND (0800-336863) or e-mail
kinglear@thebacchanals.net