Cast Set For Bell Shakespeare's KING LEAR

Bell Shakespeare has announced the cast for King Lear. For the first time since 2010, the company re-explores Shakespeare's epic of the imagination, staging the play in an intimate setting as Australian audiences won't have seen it before.

This new production will be presented in Sydney at The Neilson Nutshell from 14 June – 20 July and Arts Centre Melbourne from 25 July – 11 August 2024. Single tickets are now on sale.

Directed by Artistic Director Peter Evans, the production stars veteran actor of the stage Robert Menzies as the mad monarch King Lear. Menzies brings a brilliant and entirely unique interpretation to the character, reflecting his four decades of experience working on some of the great productions in Australia's theatre history, collaborating with acclaimed theatre makers including Barrie Kosky, Jim Sharman and Jean-Pierre Mignon.

Menzies is joined onstage by Melissa Kahraman as Cordelia and Fool, known for her recent television roles in Stan series Prosper and Bad Behaviour, and Andrea Demetriades as Goneril, who appeared recently in Hulu's The Artful Dodger. Other cast members include Tamara Lee Bailey (Regan), Shameer Birges (Albany), Jeremi Campese (Oswald), Alex King (Edgar/France), James Lugton (Gloucester), Michael Wahr (Cornwall), Janine Watson (Kent) and Darius Williams (Edmund).

Artistic Director Peter Evans said: “If one were to describe the plot of King Lear it could sound like a fairytale or the set-up for a joke: three sisters – one good, two evil – a controlling father, a fool, a storm. But in the hands of Shakespeare, the complexities and nuances of this great play create an astonishing portrait of a family and a country torn apart. All our assumptions are upended, our loyalties tested, the depth of our emotions revealed. As in the best of Shakespeare, we can find ourselves in the unlikeliest of characters and situations.

“For this production, we wanted audiences to be close to the action and the actors in the intimate settings of The Neilson Nutshell and the Fairfax Studio. You'll be immersed in the domestic tragedy and get the opportunity to see one of Australia's finest classical actors Robert Menzies as he tackles one of the great roles in Western theatre.”

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