King Lear (John Poulsen) with The Fool (Emily Laidlaw) in a scene from ‘King Lear.’
The Lethbridge Shakespeare Performance Society is bringing to the Empress Theatre stage a tale that explores parent-child relationships, succession, love, betrayal and aging.
The society will present King Lear at 7 p.m. Thursday, July 9 in their annual appearance in Fort Macleod.
“This is definitely a classic tragedy — you’re following a person who has a lot of power, like a king, and then you are watching them make mistakes caused by some kind of personality flaw,” director Shelley Scott said.
King Lear tries to split his kingdom in three parts, planning to give the largest piece to Cordelia, the daughter he loves the most.
Cordelia loves her father but refuses to flatter him in the way he desires, and finds herself disinherited.
Lear’s other daughters, Regan and Goneril, are willing to flatter their father as he desires and as result get to split the kingdom.
However, the two daughters strip Lear of his power and leave him homeless in a vicious storm.
“It’s interesting because he doesn’t say who loves me best, but who will say that they love me best,” Scott said. “So he really wants that kind of attention and public tribute.”
In fact it is the youngest daughter Cordelia who loves King Lear the most but can’t say it in the way he wants to hear.
In a way that we would likely recognize today as dementia, the aging Lear loses his faculties.
A second plot has Gloucester being tricked by one son, Edmund, to believe that another son, Edgar, is plotting to kill him.
The story ends tragically for all those involved.
Scott, who directed Hamlet in 2022, is drawn to the works of Shakespeare by the stories.
“They are so big and epic, and there’s so much action,” Scott said. “I think that’s what is exciting about Shakespeare is that the plot lines are so full of big emotions and big passions.”
Scott said it is important to have public performances of the works of Shakespeare to remind people that society has long been interested in human nature in all cultures.
“With King Lear, for example, there’s a lot of emphasis on the idea of inheritance, in this case fathers passing on their land and their power to their children. That seems to be something that we are fascinated with.”
Scott was drawn to direct King Lear out of a desire to work with veteran actor John Poulsen, who plays King Lear in this production.
“We had been talking for a while about doing King Lear together and it just worked out this year,” Scott explained. “He really wanted to do the role and I wanted to work with John, so it was really kind of a team effort or joint submission that we put forward to the Lethbirdge Shakespeare Performance Society board.”
Scott retired last year after a career as a drama professor at the University of Lethbridge, primarily teaching theatre history and Canadian theatre, as well as directing some plays for the drama department.
Scott is delighted with the cast assembled for King Lear, which in addition to Poulsen includes Jessica Syratt as Goneril, Carter Popielarz as Duke of Albany, Jordan Payne-Hunter as Oswald, Jessica Nguyen as Regan, Reign Dyer as Duke of Cornwall, Emily Laidlaw as Cordelia and Lear’s Fool, Jason Lisburn as Earl of Kent, Jeff Graham as Earl of Gloucester, Cole Fettig at Edgar, Jordan Bond as Edmund, Conor Shaw as King of France, and Canice Vandenberg in several roles.
“What’s so cool about our cast is that it’s such a variety of people coming from different backgrounds and levels of experience,” Scott said.
For example, Graham has been with the Lethbridge Shakespeare Performance Society for a long time as well as performing in community theatre and organizing a one-act play festival.
On the other end is Candace Vandenberg, who is a long-time fan of Shakespeare but is appearing on stage for the first time.
“I think it’s just the diversity in the cast is what I really enjoy,” Scott said.
King Lear runs about 90 minutes and is packed with sword fights and action.
“It has a lot of entertainment value,” Scott said. “We’re really delighted to be coming back to Fort Macleod.”
King Lear is also performed Thursdays and Fridays at Galt Gardens and other locations in Lethbridge throughout July and early August, and The Venue in High River on July 25.
