David Fox to Star in North Bay's Watershed Shakespeare Festival Collective's KING LEAR

North Bay's Watershed Shakespeare Festival Collective is proud to present their highly-acclaimed production of KING LEAR, starring the incomparable David Fox as he makes his return to Theatre Passe Muraille. Set in the British court during the Rebellion of 1837 in pre-Confederation Upper Canada, KING LEARis directed and adapted by Rod Carley.

The social and political chaos in KING LEAR eerily suits the setting of 1837 Victorian-Upper Canada. Those in the Victorian court were power hungry and outwardly appeared secure and in control, but inwardly, their lives were governed by the fear of losing their position and status. This is a period of Canadian history known for confrontation and inner cruelty of family that probes down to the bone of human behavior. Within the 1830's context, the characters in KING LEAR have very real "Upper Canadian" counterparts.

"There is only one reason to adapt Shakespeare to a modern setting and that is to make it relatable to a modern audience, to make it accessible, to make it immediate and to illuminate the text that much more clearly for your audience," explains Carley, winner of TVO's Big Ideas/Best Lecturer competition for his lecture: "Adapting Shakespeare within a Canadian Context."

Often regarded as Shakespeare's greatest work; a masterpiece among masterpieces, KING LEAR is a domestic tragedy examining the breakdown of family relationships. Drawn on a huge canvas with a very intimate brush, Lear is a king and family patriarch who descends into madness after plans to divide his kingdom amongst his daughters erupts into a deadly civil war.

Considered as one of the finest, and busiest, actors in Canada, David Fox has appeared with every major theatre company in the country, as well as some of Canada's most successful television series over his nearly 50-year career. He is beloved as school teacher Clive Pettibone on the long-running Road to Avonlea, but his illustrious career also includes several historically significant premieres of collective creations at Theatre Passe Muraille in the 1970s including; The Farm Show, 1837:The Farmer's Revolt, As Far as the Eye Can See and Them Donnellys. In 1999 David premiered the role of Angus, for which he won a Dora Mavor Moore Award, in Michael Healey's amazingly successful The Drawer Boy, a prequel to The Farm Show.

The cast also includes: Maureen Cassidy as Goneril, Jennifer Ritchie as Regan, Kelsey Ruhl as Cordelia, Charlie Tomlinson as Gloucester, Ethan Chapman as Edgar, Joshua Bainbridge as Edmund, Tim Nicholson as Kent, Zachary Smithers as Albany, Jeff Miller as Cornwall, Anthony Leclair as Oswald and Hume Baugh as the Fool; with Jesse Beam, Liam Culhane, Caleb Geden, Laura Hokstad, David Johnson and Brian Nettlefold.

Rod Carley (Director) has directed over 125 productions, internationally and nationally, and is highly lauded for his directorial adaptations of Shakespeare, having adapted and directed fifteen of his works. He is currently Coordinator for Canadore College's Acting for Stage and Screen Program, a part-time professor with Nipissing University and Artistic Director of Rep 21. Recent directing credits include Sarah Ruhl's Passion Play, As You Like It, Macbeth and the Canadian premiere of Talking to Terrorists. Recently, Rod was inducted into North Bay's Entertainers and Musicians Hall of Recognition.

The role of King Lear is often described as a mountainthe Everest of Shakespearean rolesand veteran Canadian actor David Fox, at the age of seventy-four, will climb this theatrical summit for a limited run of ten performances only in Toronto!

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