LOST LEAR Will Embark on Ireland Tour

Following the national and international tour of A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings, Dan Colley and his company have turned their sights on a very (very) loose adaptation of King Lear, examining the self and that part of us that's inaccessible to others. The tour will officially open in Riverbank Arts Centre, Newbridge on the 20th of October (tour dates below).

A moving and darkly comic remix of Shakespeare's play told from the point of view of Joy, a person with dementia, who is living in an old memory of rehearsing 'King Lear'. Joy's delicately maintained reality is upended by the arrival of her estranged son who, being cast as Cordelia, must find a way to speak his piece from within the limited role he's given. Using puppetry, projection and live video effects, the audience are landed in Joy's world as layers of her past and present, fiction and reality, overlap and distort. 'Lost Lear' is a thought provoking meditation on theatre, artifice and the possibility of communicating across the chasms between us.

"A captivating journey, from an energetic and rambunctious beginning to the poignant and gentle end, it portrays the bewilderment of someone who wants to care, trying to have the shared experience with the person living with dementia, struggling and sometimes failing. I am delighted to hear that Lost Lear is on tour and many more people will have the opportunity to see it for the first time - or again."

- Susan Crampton, Dementia Carers Campaign Network

Co-produced by Mermaid Arts Centre and Riverbank Arts Centre. Funded by the Arts Council of Ireland and supported by Fishamble's New Play Clinic.

CAST: Venetia Bowe; Peter Daly; Manus Halligan, Em Ormonde, Clodagh O'Farrell

Directed by Dan Colley

Music Composed by Daniel McAuley

Set Design by Andrew Clancy

Lighting Design by Suzie Cummins

Costume Design by Cherie White

Sound Design by Kevin Gleeson

AV Design by Ross Ryder

Tour Dates

Riverbank Arts Centre // 20-21 October // riverbank.ie

The Everyman, Cork // 24 + 25 October // everymancork.com

Westival, Westport 27th // 29th October // westival.ie

The Town Hall Theatre, Galway // 8th November // tht.ie

Project Arts Centre // 10th and 11th of November // projectartscentre.ie

The Hawkswell, Sligo // 15th November // hawkswell.com

The Ramor, Cavan // 18th November // ramortheatre.com

Mermaid Arts Centre // 21st and 22nd November // https://www.mermaidartscentre.ie/whats-on/events/lost-lear-1

Draocht Arts Centre // 25 November @ 8pm // https://www.draiocht.ie/whats-on/lost-lear

The Civic Theatre, Tallaght // 28th and 29th November // https://www.civictheatre.ie/whats-on/lost-lear/

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