Some very important announcements before we're off to Edinburgh!

Right, so this will be the last post before we’re off to Edinburgh. We have some amazing announcements for you guys –

First of all, our trailer made The Guardian’s website (yaay!) We submitted out trailer to them and it was chosen as one of the ones that were lucky enough to be featured on their website. So, The Guardian seems to like us…no biggie… Visit their page here –

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/interactive/2012/aug/03/edinburgh-festival-readers-videos?fb=native

Also, big announcement number 2 – tomorrow between 4pm and 7pm four of our cast (Nick McAndrew, Dom Gwyther, Lawrence Dixon and James Paine) will be on Radio 1 with Greg James for Feet Up Friday. They’ll be competing against another team for some extra air time, so you need to vote for them if you want to hear some more from our boys. Tune in to Radio 1 tomorrow between 4pm and 7pm to hear some shameless King Lear plugging – and remember to vote for the Lear boys!

Now, you’ve seen all of our cast and crew profiles, but I thought it was time I give you a quick introduction to our amazing directors who have made all of this possible –

Piers Horner (Director)

This is Piers' first year directing in the Fringe after being one of those actor types for the majority of his Act One career. In his time he’s played a range of characters, including Block in ‘The Trial’, Gratiano in ‘Merchant of Venice’ and Deio in the first English adaptation of Meic Povey’s ‘Diwydd y Byd'. He’s definitely the Daddy of the play at the grand old age of 28 (although he turns 29 at the Fringe). Piers has worked on a number of films as well as on radio, and has also written for stage. AND he’s a Doctor of Astrophysics! He’s been busy boy.

 

Madison Fowler (Director)

Madison has always been convinced that she would survive in the event of an apocalypse. King Lear finally gave her the opportunity to study and portray the fascinating psychology of such an event, its references to nature, madness, and mysterious eclipses being the perfect catalyst for such a setting.
This will be her fourth year in Edinburgh, having performed and enthusiastically visited as a member of Act One. King Lear 2012 also represents the very last production she will be involved in after 5 years as a member of the biggest and brightest independent drama societies in the UK. During this time she has acted in various parts, both lead and ensemble, and was moved to be awarded Best Actress in 2009. She is also a big fan of backstage work (having met her co-director Piers when she was crewing for the first time in 2008), and in the admin of the society, acting as both Publicity Officer and President in her time.

So, I need to get up in the morning to catch a train then a bus to Edinburgh, as it's a bit of a treck from Cardiff. I guess all that's left to say is SEE YOU IN EDINBURGH!! :)

Pictures courtesy of Ségolène Scheuer

Getting to know you (Part 2)

Yesterday we introduced you to some of the Cast and Crew of King Lear so you can get to know them a little bit better before you come and see them up in Edinburgh. Today we bring you Part 2 of the profiles -

  

Katrina Grier as Oswald

This is Katrina's first time performing at the edinburgh fringe, an opportunity which she is incredibly grateful for. It is her first year in Act One and during this year she has performed in multiple roles including Mistress Overdone in 'Measure for Measure' and an eccentric german count in a stage adaptation of 'The Great Race'. Theatre has always been a big part of Katrina's life and apart from straight theatre she has also appeared in many musical theatre roles including Polly in the 'Threepenny Opera' and Toad in 'The Wind Of The Willows'. As well as others working with theatre company MJUK. Katrina would like to say thank you to the Directors for allowing her to play such an unusual character, her favourite direction being "Give us more tongue".

  Flora Woodruff as France

This is Flora's first year in Act One. Having acted as the old woman and messenger in King Lear's January production, she has stepped up to play a female France at the Fringe. Flora has acted in a variety of different roles before joining Act One, varying from a sheep to Aladdin to Lady Macbeth.

Dom Gwyther as Gloucester

After roles in as Jack Off in 'Alice in Pantoland', Ralph in 'Our Country's Good' and Soldier number 2 in 'Salome' Dom returns to Shakespeare as Gloucester having first 'caught the bug' as the title role in a school production of 'Richard III'. This will be Dom's last performance with Act One and he is incredibly proud to be amongst such a talented group of actors and crew here in Edinburgh and to have the opportunity to take on such a challenging role at the world's biggest arts festival.

  

James Paine as Lear Jr/Gentleman Cambridge

James has ran around shouting on stages for many years. From King Louie in 'The Jungle Book' to Willy Wonka in 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' he enjoyed being a big fish in a small pond before university. The past two years being part of Act One, James has made a name for himself by repeatedly appearing on stage wearing really not very much. After feeling used for his body by various directors he took the plunge into 'King Lear'. Lear represents his first foray into Shakespeare, as well as his first attempt at playing a character with measurable levels of testosterone.

 

Caitlin Forbes as Doctor/Messenger

This is Caitlin's first foray into the world of Shakespeare after her most recent Act One portrayals as the moving and critically acclaimed Pussyrator in 'King Arthur and the Lads of the Round Table' and Cloth Mother in 'Touch Comfort'. Caitlin devoted her teenage years to musicals and singing by dressing up in a green catsuit in 'Honk' with Cheryl Baker (of Bucks Fizz fame), playing Queequeg in 'Moby Dick the Musical', Jafar in 'Aladdin' and singing arias in St. Paul's cathedral (amongst others) on the sly. She truly believes these notable roles have set her up for the role she was born to play.

Emily Barnden as Kent 

This is Emily's first year in Act One, having played an abused child in 'Staging a Coup' and is going to be Production Manager for next year's production of 'Harrowdown Hill', a devised piece about David Kelly's involvement in the Iraq war.

Ellie Hepworth as The Fool

This year was Ellie's first year in Act One, appearing as an old woman in 'Sunrise', and of course, as The Fool in 'King Lear'.









Not forgetting our awsome crew -

 

Amy Davies (Tech)

Amy has been involved in a number of productions with Act One; from being a stage hand on 'The Importance of being Ernest', acting in 'The Crucible' to directing a main production. This is Amy's first time doing lighting so she has everything crossed for no disasters! Amy has previously been involved with 2 Edinburgh productions but none quite as big as 'Lear'!"

Sian Llewellyn (Tech)

Sian has been involved in technical theatre for nearly six years, starting out backstage with college productions and slowly progressing through stage management, lighting and sound. Sian assisted on productions of Hairspray, Rent, Les Miserable and We Will Rock You, amongst many others during her time at Neath Port Talbot College. This is Sian's second year in Act One,during which time she has done lighting, sound and some production management, for productions of The Wonderful World of Dissocia, Monstrous Regiment and now King Lear. Sian is currently studying Physics and Music and hopes to pursue a career in technical theatre.

                   

Katie Dowling (Publicity & Props)

 

Katie has been acting and singing since a young age, mainly in the Welsh National Eisteddfod. She also played various chorus roles during 6^th form, and played the role of Inès in No Exit (Huis Clos) by Jean-Paul Sartre as part of her Drama A-Levels. Katie played the role of Curan in the January production of King Lear, but is now fulfilling the role of Publicity Officer and helping out with props for the Edinburgh production of the play.

Pictures courtesy of Ségolène Scheuer

Getting to know you...

So, with our stint up in Edinburgh drawing ever nearer, I thought it would be a good idea to introduce everyone to our lovely cast and crew. Since there are quite a few of us, I’ll be doing 2 posts of cast and crew profiles. Some of our cast have been involved in quite a variety of productions in the past, playing some…interesting *ahem* characters. Enjoy –

 

  James Davies as King Lear

This is James' second year performing at the Edinburgh Fringe, and his second year as a member of Act One. Previous roles have included: Givola in 'The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui' (directed by Greg Davies), Holmes in 'Sherlock Holmes and the Saucermen from Mars' (directed by Rob Thomas and Aleks Ford) and Samuel Meredith in the film adaptation of the F. Scott Fitzgerald story 'The Four Fists' (directed by Raneem Al Daoud and Elliot Albarran). September will see him begin his masters in acting at the Arts Educational School in London. He is very happy to be the first James in the cast.

 Laura Williams as Cordelia

Laura is ridiculously excited to be taking this play up to Edinburgh (yes, she is very excitable).
This is Laura's second year in Act One, having previously played the role of Tituba in their production of The Crucible, along with several other events and radio dramas. She also played the title role in Annie as a child. Yes, she wore a wig. Playing Cordelia has allowed Laura to show everyone her more serious side, and she was very pleased when a member of the audience after King Lear’s initial run in Cardiff commented that Laura seemed like a very serious girl – her acting skills were obviously better than she thought.

 

 Ségolène Scheuer as Goneril

Ségolène started acting at the age of 6 as Pérette in a creation by Karin Catala in a theatre in the Parisian suburbs. By age 11, she joined Les Enfants de La Comédie, a troupe and school of acting in Sèvres and starred in many shows and musicals such as ‘Chanteclerc’ by Edmond Rostand, Charles Dickens’s ‘Christmas Caroll’, ‘Voyage Extraordinaire’, an adaptation of Jules Verne’s ‘Two Years Vacation’, and even Perrault’s famous ‘Little Thumbling’. Piers Horner and Madison Fowler’s ‘King Lear’ marks Ségolène’s return to the stage after a six years absence, during which the French actress tried out new arts such as singing and loud reading.
“Goneril has been part of my life for almost a year now. And, despite her evil personality, I’ve learned to admire and respect her: she is a true Shakespearean villain. I hope you’ll enjoy the performance. Que le spectacle commence!”

 

  

Felicity Box as Regan

Felicity is glad to be returning to her roots by playing a good old baddie, having made her stage debut at the age of 6 playing the wicked stepmother in ‘Sleeping Beauty’. She is also glad to be playing a human character once again having been cast as a lion (The Wizard of Oz), a hen (Animal Farm) and various other animal parts. Her most recent roles include Inspecter Bertozzo in ‘Accidental Death of Anarchist’ and Ysabell in Terry Pratchett’s ‘Mort’. This is Felicity’s first year in Act One and she would like to thank all of the casts and crews for a fantastic year!

 

Nick McAndrew as Edgar

King Lear is Nick's stage debut as a reinvented 'serious actor' after playing the White Queen in ‘Alice in Panto Land’ and Merlin in ‘King Arthur and The Lads of The Round Table’, with roles before University including the artistically revered Daddy Bear (off of goldilocks) in the Fallibroome High School production of ‘Happily Ever After’. I hope you love the show as much as I've loved making it, and don't worry, I don't understand most of the words either.

Lawrence Dixon as Edmund

Throughout his teenage years Lawrence was involved in numerous productions as a member of his local youth theatre group Shed, who are also performing at this year’s Fringe. This is Lawrence’s second appearance at the Fringe having previously played Captain Cat in Shed’s 2008 production of ‘Under Milk Wood’. Soon after he was The Young Knight in Cirencester’s Sundial Theatre production of ‘The Canterbury Tales’. In his first year of Act One, aside from being Edmund, Lawrence has played the lead in original play ‘Sunrise’ and appeared in indie gangster film ‘Blanc’. He is the creator of Xpress Radio’s series ‘The Bullingdon Boys’, and has been commissioned to direct a main production for Act One; a new devised piece about the lead up to the Iraq war entitled ‘Harrowdown Hill’ and arriving in Cardiff for March 2013.

 

James Sidwell as Cornwall

James been previously spotted on various act one stages in the roles of Mr Darcy, a highly disturbed, prepubescent Texan (and his late father), and a love struck, existentially challenged puppet. This, combined with his abiding passion for dance and/or ninja things, was apparently the ideal experiential skill set for playing a Shakespearean sexual sadist. No, he doesn't understand it either. He is feeling type cast and would like to see his agent- sorry, his therapist. PS: he is topless by dramatic necessity, not choice. But yes. Yes, they are real.

 

Adam Feltham as Albany

Adam started acting at the age of 11 when cast as Michael in a school production of ‘Peter Pan’. Following this he proceeded to play roles in ‘Bugsy Malone’ (Dandy Dan), ‘Annie’ (Drake), ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’ (Oberon) and ‘The Wizard of Oz’ as the title character. He also joined the Nuffield Youth Theatre playing chorus roles, as well as Lennox in ‘Macbeth’ and the Prime Minister in ‘Gargling with Jelly’. After joining Act One, Adam has appeared in ‘Cinderotica’ as the Big Bad Wolf and ‘Pride and Prejudice’ as Colonel Fitzwilliam. He has also voiced the character Doctor John Watson in two radio series based on a spoof of Sherlock Holmes as well as playing significant roles in two independent films for GEA productions.

Now, it’s not only the cast that make a play, we musn’t forget our lovely crew too, so here’s a look at some of them –

Mica Jones (Make-up)

Mica has worked on a Columbia University Production of 'Lulu' directed by Osheen Jones, doing the hair and make-up. She worked on 'Sunrise' written and directed by Ben Atterbury, where she focused on ageing the actors. She has also gained make-up experience from working on school productions and photo shoots for friends and family.
Mica is now going into her final year at Cardiff University studying Politics and Sociology.

 Charlotte Smith (Props)

Charlotte has probably done a little bit of everything in the theatre now! She never really got into the crew side of theatre before she came to University in Cardiff. But just by chance she applied to join the crew of last year’s pantomime 'King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table' in costume and makeup, and she loved it. So when the opportunity to crew for Lear came up, Charlotte couldn't resist a chance to crew again...and in Edinburgh!
“But do excuse me if I meet you and I don't shake your hand, because I'll probably be covered in golden syrup and cochineal!”

Pictures courtesy of Ségolène Scheuer

Apocalyptic Lear weather and dongles...

North Wales was very Lear-like today, with the mountain mists very low and the pouring rain blowing in every direction. Despite the apocalyptic weather, I braved the storm to go out and get a dongle so I can resume my duties as the Lear blogger. As a lot of you that are coming up to see us in Edinburgh may not have seen the original production earlier on this year in Cardiff, I thought you might appreciate seeing some reviews of the original play.

This review was written by a member of Cardiff University’s student newspaper Gair Rhydd, Henry McMorrow, and we were really pleased with the reception the production got –

http://www.cardiffstudentmedia.co.uk/gairrhydd/king-lear-is-a-jewel-in-the-act-one-crown/

This review was written by Kirsty Allen and appeared on Buzz Magazine’s website, which was a huge deal for us as the magazine is a really important within the South Wales arts and music scene –

http://www.buzzmag.co.uk/uncategorized/king-lear-stage-preview/

Now, if you haven’t been swayed by those sterling reviews, maybe this behind-the-scenes look at our Edinburgh preparations written by blogger Katie Brown might help you make your mind up –

http://katiebrownonculture.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/preparing-king-lear-for-edinburgh.html

We’re all very pleased when we get such great feedback and support for the production here at Lear HQ (yes, we have a HQ…), so it would be great if you could give the reviews a little read and come see us up in Edinburgh – you won’t regret it. You can buy tickets from The Zoo’s website or from The Fringe Box Office website, and don’t forget to follow us on twitter too @LearFringe2012.

Some Appreciation for Lear's Silent Heroes...

Aaaand having said that... silence! :)

Our lovely blog admin has been having internet problems recently so we've got a backlog of material waiting to be posted. Patience my dear theatre followers.

In the meantime... a short word about what goes on behind the scenes during the preparation for a Fringe show. It's all too easy for actors to forget that a show isn't all about them (I know, I was an actor for many years before I decided I wanted to direct - it's not [always] a matter of conceit, sometimes you just don't realise the work that goes on backstage), but the crew are definitely the unsung heroes of many productions.


Lear was originally conceived with an ambitious technical spec. It is a firm belief of mine that the thing that often distinguishes amateur and professional productions is mostly the lighting, sound and set. The committee of the student drama society to which we belong set a clear target to treat all our productions in a more professional manner, and this fitted with our philosophy well.


As part of the original production, we teamed up with Cardiff-based DJ, Nick 'F-block' Cotton to produce a full-length original score for the production, synched to the 'beat' of the dialogue. And if that sounds utterly pretentious and/ or unlikely to work... I don't blame you for doubting us! But it worked. Better than we could ever have hoped in fact. Edmund's famous bastardy speech in particular was transformed as a result. That's what our reviewers all said, so it has to be right.


What often works well in theatre is combining several different styles music, and we also took advantage of that, making use of a range of sounds, from 'nasty' drum and bass to start off the second act through to classical music during the aftermath of the dramatic battle between France's men and those of Albany.


With the music in place, it was then a matter of ensuring the lighting complimented it perfectly. We spent a solid three hours defining different lighting levels the day before the opening night, and it was just as well! The venue's lighting desk has a nasty habit of crashing during operation and needed re-setting each time. It crashed twice during the run, leaving Ben - our lighting tech/hero - to scrabble around in silence frantically trying to get everything up and running again before the audience noticed. As it happened, amazingly no-one did notice, because the first time the desk crashed was just before the start of the performance, and the second time was during the battle sequence, when the strobes were in full use and covered for the fact that none of the other lights were working!


Those were stressful times, but it all held together. I imagine the lighting desk in Edinburgh will be more reliable!


The final element we wanted to make absolutely sure was right was the set. Conveniently, we were able to choose a concept that allowed us to be a little sloppy in the way we constructed everything - in fact it encouraged our set makers to take as little care as possible...


The idea was that the audience would be walking into the set of an abandoned theatre, with a decaying box set, grafittied and vandalised, onstage. In the opening scene, Lear's son (in our version) runs through the audience, as though seeking to hide in this abandoned theatre. The idea, of course, is to create an element of 'meta-theatre' in the performance, with the aim of making the audience feel as though the characters are closer to their own reality, thereby enhancing the relevance of the action. Simultaneously, the fact that the characters continue with the play, even though the setting suggests they are aware of the nature of their surroundings, was intended to lend a surreal atmosphere to the play, reflecting Lear's own madness. Finally, the decay of the set also reflects the central theme of decay in Lear - decay of the mind; decay of power, and decay of a society.


At least that was the theory!


Whether all those themes came out or not, people seemed to appreciate it. It's been a challenge translating the concept with as much impact to the Edinburgh performance, but we're hoping that all the elements will end up being just as strong. We'll just have to wait and see.


In the meantime, here's a mixed version of the original Lear soundtrack for your delight and appreciation. I may have posted this link before, but if that's the case, please listen to it again - it's a real treat (thanks Nick!):


http://soundcloud.com/f-block/full-king-lear-soundtrack

Update and Edinburgh Trailer

First of all, apologies for not updating this in a while. But now we’re back and better than ever, and there will be more regular posts from now on, so keep your eyes peeled for cast and character profiles, exclusive pictures and much, much more.

Rehearsals have been going really well and things are really coming along, with the new cast working on their characters and developing new ideas about their roles and about the play. Last week we had a ‘Lear Camp’ – a week of intensive rehearsal and character development to really help the production come together.  The cast also had a bit of fun, laser questing in Barry Island and some pedalo antics in in Roath Park (all for the good of the production of course!)

So, as a little preview of what to expect from us when you come and see King Lear up in Edinburgh (notice I said when, not if - because you're all coming, right?), here’s a re-vamp of the original trailer made especially for the Fringe Festival, courtesy of Dom Gwyther (original trailer by Peter Lee). Enjoy, and feel free to share it with your friends too.

Lest Ye Forget...

Twitter site: @LearFringe2012

400 followers and counting!

Diary of a Director, There and Back Again.

So where were we?

The last couple of weeks have been manic! No sooner had we finished celebrating the fact that we had a complete cast/ family again, we were straight onto more organisation stuff...

Monday 2nd April was time for a marketing meeting with the lovely Segolene Scheuer in our local Milgi's, complete with vegetarian quesadilla (have I spelled that correctly?) and hummous. I'm not vegetarian but it was flippin' delicious. Oh, and the marketing plan went well! The twitter site currently has almost 350 followers. I'm kinda aiming at 540 followers by August, because that's the number of people we need to sell out the run, but I'm secretly hoping to reach 1,000. You can follow us at @LearFringe2012.

Tuesday 3rd saw me jetting off to 'burgh to visit the venue. That was fun. I managed to choose the morning where Scotland got assaulted by the elements. We landed in a storm almost worthy of Lear, with low cloud and driving winds that rocked the plane from side to side right up to the point where we landed. The venue is based in a Church, and I got shown around by the caretaker 'Kenny' - a friendly man in his later years who seemed not to get what I was doing there: "every year they come, but it's completely different by the time the Fringe arrives..." I needed to see the place though to get some idea of what the space felt like. It's smaller than the YMCA theatre we used in February. I knew we'd have to re-block quite a bit of the performance due to the performance space being a thrust, with audience surrounding you on three sides, but moving around in the room gave me some idea of how we'd have to achieve this. Re-designing the fights will be an important part of the new design of the piece.

Strange to be in Edinburgh standing on the Royal Mile when there weren't thousands of other visitors jostling to watch street performers or gather as many flyers as they can from promoters. It felt a bit like being on the edge of a precipice, knowing that in several month's time, the spot where I was standing would be flooded by people, arriving live a tidal wave from the Firth of Forth. The sense of anticipation was palpable. I wonder if Edinburgh is ever really able to get away from the Fringe. I also managed to find time to pay an impromptu visit to Edinburgh castle and, in particular, admire a statue of one of the Duke's of Albany standing in the Esplanade.... Looked very different to our Albany...

Then it was back to Cardiff to finish the edits to the script. Editing was definitely one of the most time-consuming parts of organising the original play. Our February version of Lear ran at about 1 hour 50 mins - 2 hours... we now have to perform it in 1 hour 15 mins. That's quite an ask. Madi had already edited the script once and sent it to me while I was galavanting off to Scotland. When I got back I spent a day reviewing the entire text again and re-editing her version. I was such a skank - didn't get out of bed until early afternoon but was focussed solely on the edit. In the end I needed to get up to escape the fug, as my Mum would say. By the end of the day I had re-edited the script, and sent it back to Madi to consider again. She got back to me with comments and ideas, and we combined our work to produce the final script.

It's looking sharp. Not to give too much away, but we've had to play around with one of the sub-plots and get rid of some of the 'continuity' scenes, adjusting for them by re-structuring and re-writing substantial parts of the play. We've also worked on making the text pacier. In the end, we're hoping that this will just improve the accessibility of the piece for new audiences, which was always one of our aims with Lear.

Time will tell.... this week we've been focused on finding accommodation and re-writing our submissions to the Fringe webpage and catalogue. Our newbies are hard at work learning their lines (well, they'd better be); our oldies are basking in the fact that they don't need to (although don't like being referred to as 'oldies'). Our first read-through of the new edit may be next weekend as everyone starts to filter back to Cardiff after the Easter break. It's going to be a tight schedule over the next couple of months, but we're feeling good.... Roll on the Summer!!

The family is complete once again...

And so... After twelve grueling hours on Friday... I can formally announce to the world...

We have a complete cast!

It was a long, long process. We wanted to make sure we got the right people for the parts we had to re-cast. Most of the actors who performed in the original version of Lear are also involved in the Fringe version, but there were a few who could not make it, so their roles were up for grabs. We started at 10 am in the Large Chemistry lecture theatre in Cardiff University and ended at 9 pm in the front room of Dom's student house in Cathays, but we're very, very pleased with the results.

The re-cast parts are:

Cornwall: James Sidwell;
Edgar: Nick McAndrew;
Oswald: Katrina Grier;
France: Flora Woodruff;
Lear Jr/ Gentleman Cambridge: James Paine.

The decisions were so hard to make - particularly for Cornwall where there were three outstanding candidates for the role - but it was great to have the other actors present to voice their opinions too, and see how they reacted to each of the auditionees. Nick probably has the largest task to fill the boots of Oli Ferriman, who was outstanding as our original Edgar.

For the time being, however, we have a budget, we have a venue, we have a cast. Next: finish editing the script (which we hope to have done by next Friday). Things are starting to move...

The Storm begins.....

Welcome to the online blog for King Lear at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2012. THE STORM BEGINS HERE...

Over the next four months we will be updating you on the progress of the show. We are incredibly excited to be bringing a modern adaptation of Shakespeare's classic tragedy to one of the Fringe's most distinctive venues: The Monkey House at Zoo.

The show was first performed in Cardiff in February 2012 to critical acclaim. It was directed by Madison Fowler and Piers Horner, featured a cast drawn from Act One: Cardiff University's drama society, and an original score by Cardiff DJ Nick 'F-block' Cotton. The setting is a dystopian version of Britain in the near future, where an apocalyptic natural catastrophe has led to society's fragmentation into gangs. Lear is the reluctant leader of one such gang. His ruthless rise to power was motivated by survival, but the murder of his son prompts him to seek to divorce himself from the position he occupies. He splits his kingdom between two of his daughters - Goneril and Regan - and in a fit of petulance banishes the third - Cordelia - for not appeasing his pride into the arms of his enemies.

It soon becomes clear, however, that he has been deceived and as Goneril and Regan seek to wrestle power from his grasp by any means, Lear realises his mistake. He is cast out into the midst of a storm and bloody gang war which threatens to destroy his sanity and all he holds dear.

The version of Lear being taken to the Fringe features most of the original members of the cast, and has been funded by Cardiff University Student's Union. We will be performing between the 12th and 18th August 2012 between 12.15 and 13.30. In the upcoming months, however, there is a lot to be done. We will need to adapt the script and score to fit into a shorter time slot; develop four new actors to take on the roles we need to re-audition for, and faithfully map the original concept into a new performance space with a different atmosphere and technical facilities. It's going to be dramatic. It's going to be exciting. Let's hope it doesn't end in tragedy!