Lear
From: Wednesday, 9th March 2005
To: Saturday, 2 April 2005
Our Review: 
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Synopsis
Edward Bond's version of Lear's story embraces myth, superstition and reality to reveal the endemic violence of a rancorous society. Set around the symbolic building of a great wall, Lear exposes false morality as the source of the aggressive tension which may ultimately destroy us all.
Our Review:
16 March 2005
Sheffield Crucible is a famously versatile arena, and for Edward Bond’s Lear, we initially find it converted to a building site, with men in hard hats and soldiers enforcing good working practices at gunpoint – the first sign of the violence that will dominate the evening.
In Bond’s epic 1971 re-telling of the story, Lear is obsessed with building a wall around his kingdom to ensure peace and freedom (how relevant is that 30 years on?). His two ungrateful daughters marry the king’s enemies, and after defeat in battle, Lear becomes the madman/outcast much earlier than in Shakespeare’s play. Cordelia, having already suffered rape and her husband’s murder, leads a people’s army in revolt and wholesale carnage sweeps away her sisters, innumerable minor characters and, eventually, Lear, killed in the act of destroying his own wall.
Dislocated recollections of Shakespeare’s play chime discordantly through the evening. It is Lear who is blinded and who echoes...
Cast
Ian McDiarmid (Lear)
Claudie Blakley (Bodice)
Sharon Small (Fonatelle)
David Cardy (1st Workman/Soldier F/Stranger/Pete/Bishop/Old Prison Orderly)
Tim Chipping (Foreman/Soldier E H and K/Farmer/John)
Bryan Dick (Gravedigger's Boy)
Robert East (Old Counciller/Prisoner 4)
Patrick Godfrey (Warrington/Judge)
Robert Hastie (Ben/Wounded Rebel Soldier/Guard 2nd/Workman/Prisoner 3)
Aaron McCusker (Firing Squad Officer/Carpenter)
Stella Madden (Farmer's Wife/Prisoner 2)
Michael Melia (Engineer/Prison Commandant/Soldier D and I/Officer/Old Sailor)
David Nicolle (Farmer's Son/Lewis/Clerk/3rd Workman/Bodice's Aide/Soldier B and P)
Georgina Rich (Gravedigger's Boy's Wife)
David Sibley (North/Small Man/Soldier O)
Sam Spruell (Soldier A G J N and R/Sergeant)
Richard Trinder (Cornwall/Thomas/Soldier M)
Kate Webster (Susan/Rebel Soldier)
Creative
Edward Bond (Author)
Sheffield Theatre (Producer)
Jonathan Kent (Director)
Dick Bird (Design)
Tim Mitchell (Lighting)
Adam Cork (Sound)
Dominic Leclerc (assistant) (Director)
Sam Chandley (casting) (Director)
Information
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