Theater: Biological View THE TALE OF LEAR

Adapted from Shakespeare by Tadashi Suzuki

Envision a King Lear cut down to 100 minutes, cast only with men -- the daughters sporting beards, the fool a burly fellow in nurse drag -- and staged as the fantasies and fuddled memories of a dotard near death. Not outraged yet? How about a Lear in which the title character is played without age makeup by a 30-year-old? For which the director is a Japanese staging his first work entirely in English? For which the costumes are pieced together from antique kimonos, the set is metal gratings and a chair, and Lear spends a long while stuffed into a...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!