Finding King Lear

An on-site dramaturgical research projectMaegan Clearwood

Cater Society of Junior Fellows

Dramaturgy: What is it?“Working in theatres and playwrights' organizations, in colleges and universities, and on a project-by-project basis, dramaturgs contextualize the world of a play; establish

connections among the text, actors, and audience; offer opportunities for playwrights; generate projects and programs; and create conversations about plays in

their communities.”

• Locate drafts and versions of text; collate, cut, track, edit, rewrite, construct, and arrange text

• Find songs, pictures, stories, videos• Help the designers with research• Help the director with casting• Help the marketeers and developers• Seek and present pathways into the

world of the play• Gather and arrange images, sounds,

and ideas for rehearsal

• Explore and present: the world of the play, the author of the play, the script’s production history, the relevant criticism

• Create a lobby display• Write program notes(s)• Work with actors on meaning, line

memorization• Look up definitions, pronunciations,

random facts• Provide notes for the director during

rehearsals• And the ultimate question....

Why This Play Now?• Written around 1608• Based on legend of King

Leir (800 BC), numerous retellings

• Folio and Quarto texts• Political and family

drama• Our production:

– April 4, 5, 6, 7– Director Jason Rubin, TM

as Lear – both retiring– Text and Performance

class with Dr. Moncrief

Why England?

• How would King Lear have appeared onstage 400 years ago? What was the world of the play like?

• How have stage practices evolved since then?

• What can we learn from original practice staging?

• What elements from both original practice and contemporary stagings can we learn from and use in our own production?

• Six days in London: Five plays; two days of research at the Globe Theatre library/archive; exploring The Globe, museums

• Six days in Stratford-upon-Avon: Five days of research at Shakespeare Birthplace Trust; three RSC plays; touring Shakespeare’s Birthplace

Questions The trip

• The “third” Globe was built in 1997• Based on excavations of The Rose• Shakespeare’s Globe:

– Twice as many spectators– Class seating, “groundlings”– London Bankside– Lord Chaimberlain’s Men/King’s Men

The Globe

The Globe library/archive• Two productions of King Lear• Fairly traditional, not strictly

“original practice”

Original Practice

• Observations: – Audience involvement– Manipulation of

language– Historically

illuminating– Variety of choices– Female characters….

• All-male cast• Traditional

Jacobean costumes• Minimalistic set• Audience-actor

participation• Use of music

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7ASipifu0w

Mark Rylance as Richard III…

…and Olivia in Twelfth Night

Stratford-Upon-Avon

• William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616): Born, raised in Stratford, married Anne Hathaway, three children

• Career as actor/playwright with Lord Chaimberlains Men/The King’s Men in London

• Retirement to Stratford, 1613

Royal Shakespeare Company• Built in 1932, renamed

in 1961• Famous current/alum

actors: Kenneth Branagh, Tim Curry, Judi Dench, Dustin Hoffman, Patrick Stewart, David Tennant, Laurence Olivier, Vanessa Redgrave, Jude Law, Gary Oldman

Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

• Eleven King Lear productions, nine since 1962, three since 2000

• Settings: Ruritanical Russia; World War I; a plain white box; Medieval fairy tale; Iron Age England

Merry Wives of Windsor

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYJ1yOa4-jE

Conclusions• Original practice theatre: so much more than

historical reenactment• Culture of Shakespeare’s England, how

political, social atmosphere affected and was effected by art

• Theatre: A communal experience, bridges social, economic divisions

• Performance history, more than just library drudgery

Thank you CSJF!

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ygtuybj4IM