Jeroen Kranenburg to Don the Mantle of LEAR'S FOOL at the Alexander Upstairs

LEAR'S FOOL, a theatre piece written for a single fool and based on the William Shakespeare's KING LEAR, will make its way to the Alexander Bar's Upstairs Theatre in April. Adapted by George Isherwood, the play will be directed by Wynne Bredenkamp and performed by Jeroen Kranenburg.

One of the last of the royal fools, Earless the Fearless, serves as the elderly King Lear's fool. He regales the audience with the tale of how the King decides to give up his power and divide his realm amongst his three loving daughters, Regan, Goneril and Cordelia. Surely it all ends well? Alas not! Follow a descent into tragedy, betrayal and murder, all told from the perspective of the brave Earless the Fearless.

Writer George Isherwood was born in New York. He studied English and Latin at the University of North Caroline and theatre at Villanova University and the London School of Dramatic Art. He worked as a clown and made street theatre in the 1970s and played all over Europe during the 1980s with his SHAKESPEARE'S GREATEST HITS, under the auspices of his own Sheer Madness International Fools Theatre Company. He has worked as a freelance director and has ten published plays. Isherwood is happily married to Richard Pels and lives in Amsterdam.

Jeroen Kranenburg was born in Worcester in the Cape. He completed a Performer's Diploma at the University of Cape Town before emigrating to Holland in 1979. He served as the artistic director at the Provadja Theatre in Alkmaar, North Holland and as the resident director at Dom Mladih in Sarajevo. In the 1980s and 1990s, he was a freelance actor and worked with several theatre companies including The Berlin Play Actors, the English Theatre in Amsterdam, Theater van het Oosten and Sheer Madness. In 1996, he returned to Cape Town and has performed with all the major theatre companies in productions including STATEMENTS, TRUTH IN TRANSLATION, AMADEUS, THE BIRDS, KING LEAR, A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, AS YOU LIKE IT and AFTER CARDENIO, earning Vita and Fleur du Cap Theatre Award nominations along the way. He has two sons and lives in the Bo Kaap.

Wynne Bredenkamp is a writer, director and creative manager from the heart of Cape Town, with a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Making and Performance with distinction from the University of Cape Town. In her final year of study, she was a co-winner for the Most Promising Student Writer award, as part of the University of Cape Town's performance of BEHIND EVERY YAWN IS A SILENT SHOUT in the National Arts Festival student programme. Writing, directing and producing her own work, she attended the National Arts Festival professionally the following year and won a Standard Bank Ovation Award for her first production, SALT, as well as a PANSA New Writing Award. Her newest works include WARRIOR GREEN and AT THE EDGE OF THE LIGHT, which was awarded the Theatre Arts Admin's Emerging Director's Bursary at the end of 2016. Bredenkamp also tutors the Live Performance classes at AFDA in Cape Town, and has directed year-end work such as Reza De Wet's GOOD HEAVENS and Aeschylus' THE ORESTIA: AGAMEMNON.

LEAR'S FOOL is presented by the Devilspeak Theatre Company. Founded in 1996, the company's solo productions include WORK IS THE CURSE OF THE DRINKING CLASSES, an entertainment based on the work of Oscar Wilde and DIARY OF A MADMAN, based on the short story by Nikolai Gogol, as well as UNDERGROUND MAN by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, HARMFULNESS OF TOBACCO and SWANSONG by Anton Chekov and DR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE by George Isherwood. All were performed, both locally and abroad, by Jeroen Kranenburg with décor and costumes by Koos Marais.

LEAR'S FOOL runs from 10 - 12 April at 19:00. Tickets are available from the Alexander Bar website, costing R110 if booked and prepaid online or R120 if paid on collection at the bar. For telephone enquiries, call 021 300 1652. The Alexander Bar, Café and Theatre is situated at 76 Strand Street in the Cape Town city centre and can be followed on Facebook and Twitter.

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