KING LEAR starring David Fox opens April 16 for 9 shows only!
The Watershed Shakespeare Festival Collective presents William Shakespeare’s KING LEAR for 9 performances only at 7:30 p.m. from Thurs. April 16 to Sat. April 18 and Wed. April 22 to Sat. April 25 with two Sunday matiness on April 19 and 26 at 2 p.m. at Trinity United Church (corner of McIntyre and Ferguson) in North Bay. Tickets are $30.00 and $15.00 for students. Tickets are available at the door. To reserve tickets call 705-494-9673 or 705-474-3310. For more information visit www.kinglearproject.com. KING LEAR is produced with the support of an Ontario Arts Council Northern Arts Grant, the Stratford Festival, Trinity Arts, Canadore College, the White Water Gallery and the Retired Teachers Association. The production is sponsored by Near North Hearing, Stenning and Associates Financial Services and Frank van Keekan.
William Shakespeare’s KING LEAR is often regarded as Shakespeare’s greatest work, the masterpiece among masterpieces. It is a domestic tragedy examining the breakdown of family relationships on a huge canvas, yet drawn with a very intimate brush. The chaos in KING LEAR is the result of the inevitable dynamics that can emerge in any family situation. Lear is not only a king, he is a family patriarch whose plans to divvy up his kingdom among his daughters backfires, causing a civil war that gets played out as a large scale family crisis.
In seeking to shorten the gap between the world of KING LEAR and ours, director Rod Carley is setting the story within the colonial aping of the British court in pre-confederation Upper Canada in 1837. He has garnered a national reputation for his adaptations of Shakespeare and has directed 15 of the bard’s works. He was the 2009 winner of TVO’s Big Ideas/Best Lecturer competition for his lecture: “Adapting Shakespeare Within a Canadian Context.”
Veteran Canadian actor David Fox stars as King Lear. Mr. Fox’s professional acting career spans nearly 50 years, ranging from early 70’s collective creations at Theatre Passe Muraille to new Canadian work across the country to the Stratford Festival to film and television performances on such shows as Anne of Avon Lea, Mr. Fox is regarded as one of the finest actors in Canada and a proud Northern Ontarian. He last performed in North Bay in The Tempest for the Nipissing Stage Company a decade ago.
Award-winning set designer Frank Vona is transforming Trinity United Church into the 1837 world of Lear. Costume design is by Peggy Haskins and Carley with an original score by Jim Harney.
KING LEAR features a cast of seventeen, including Hume Baugh as the Fool, Todd McGowan as Gloucester, Tim Nicholson as Kent, Maureen Cassidy as Goneril, Jennifer Ritchie as Regan, Kelsey Ruhl as Cordelia, Josh Bainbridge as Edmund, Ethan Chapman as Edgar, Rob McCubbin as Cornwall and Rev. Ted Harrison as the King of France.
This is a Canadian Actors’ Equity Association production under the Artists’ Collective Policy.
To arrange interviews contact Rod Carley at 705-477-1525 or rdcarley@hotmail.com
