LEAR ALONE Web Series Will Premiere Online Next Weekend

Five free episodes released weekly on YouTube, Lear Alone uses just King Lear's lines from the first folio of Shakespeare's well-known tragedy to explore themes of loneliness, ageing and homelessness: a study of one man's vulnerability as he confronts and negotiates a digital world. This disenfranchised Lear's relationship to the text, and to the viewer, will be determined by the phone in his hand, the noise on the streets and the disturbance inside his head. Performed solely by 69-year-old actor Edmund Dehn, the project was filmed on location in and around London, starting at actor's care home Denville Hall. The series will be presented as a play within a play - as such, Edmund plays the part of an actor playing Lear: trying to find his voice and his place in the world as he grapples with homelessness.

Figures from the Office of National Statistics in 2019 showed that the number of older people in England seeking help for homelessness had risen by 39 per cent in the previous five years: a growing societal problem forced even further into the public consciousness as a result of Covid-19. In partnering with CRISIS, and by presenting the piece digitally, and for free, And Tomorrow Theatre Company hope to reach beyond a regular theatregoing audience, and to start new conversations around preconceptions of homelessness, particularly in relation to older people.

Once the final episode is released on 8 August, the full playlist of all five episodes will remain available to view until the end of the month so that people can watch the piece in its entirety, more akin to watching a play.

Director Anthony Shrubsall said, "Lear is timeless and unfortunately so is homelessness. In a time when we have all felt so alone it seemed right to use the artistry of the former to highlight the reality of the latter".

Watch on demand at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8bYLmSRzK7MxwJpNh47KOQ