King Lear
2023
Director Kimberley Rampersad
Set Designer Judith Bowden
Costume Designer Michelle Bohn
Lighting Designer Chris Malkowski
Composer Sean Mayes
Sound Designer Miquelon Rodriguez
Supervising Fight Director Geoff Scovell
Producer David Auster
Casting Director Beth Russell
Creative Planning Director Jason Miller
Over the last few years my son, who is now 16, and I have attended a number of plays in Stratford at the festival. We eagerly await the announcements of the season’s shows and often debate what shows we want to attend and why and then we buy our tickets early in the winter. For the 2023 Season I did not get around to writing reviews during the season but wanted to still share my thoughts. And this production was just amazing, one of my all-time favourite productions of Lear and Lear is among my top three Shakespeare plays. It was the first of five shows we saw in 2023, the others were: Frankenstein Revived, Grand Magic, A Wrinkle in Time, and Goblin Macbeth. Back to this production. This is a production we both greatly loved and talked about for weeks after. Prior to attending I reread the play, in the Oxford School Shakespeare edition, and we watched the Stratford 2015 production featuring Colm Feore.
The 2023 cast was:
King Lear, King Of Britain - Paul Gross
Goneril, Daughter To Lear - Shannon Taylor
Cordelia, Daughter To Lear - Tara Sky
Regan, Daughter To Lear - Déjah Dixon-Green
Fool - Gordon Patrick White
Earl Of Kent - David W. Keeley
Earl Of Gloucester - Anthony Santiago
Edgar, Son To Gloucester - André Sills
Edmund, Bastard Son To Gloucester - Michael Blake
Duke Of Albany, Husband To Goneril - Austin Eckert
Duke Of Cornwall, Husband To Regan - Rylan Wilkie
Oswald, Steward To Goneril - Devin Mackinnon
King Of France - Jakob Ehman
Duke Of Burgundy - Andrew Iles
Curan, A Courtier - John Kirkpatrick
Knights - Gabriel Antonacci, Josue Laboucane
Old Man, A Tenant To Gloucester - John Kirkpatrick
Doctor - Patrick Mcmanus
Cornwall’s Servant - Richard Comeau
Messenger - Anousha Alamian
Gentleman - Gabriel Antonacci
Herald - Anousha Alamian
English Captains - Andrew Iles, Josue Laboucane
Beggars, Knights, Ladies, Servants, Soldiers - Allison Edwards-Crewe, Jakob Ehman, Andrew Iles, John Kirkpatrick, Josue Laboucane, Patrick Mcmanus - Marissa Orjalo
Understudies:
Edmund, Curan, Old Man - Anousha Alamian
Duke Of Burgundy, English Captain - Richard Comeau
Edgar - Austin Eckert
Regan - Allison Edwards-Crewe
Duke Of Albany, Cornwall’s Servant - Jakob Ehman
King Of France, Knight, English Captain, Herald, Messenger - Andrew Iles
Earl Of Gloucester - David W. Keeley
Oswald - John Kirkpatrick
Fool, Doctor, Gentleman¬ - Josue Laboucane
Duke Of Cornwall - Devin Mackinnon
King Lear - Patrick Mcmanus
Cordelia - Marissa Orjalo
Goneril - Jennifer Villaverde
Earl Of Kent - Rylan Wilkie
We attended what I believe was the first public performance of the production. It was stunning, it was amazing. The use of light and darkness the three pillars with lights up the full length that set the stage as we are being seated and how they are used during the production. Just brilliant!
My son’s top picks from the actors were:
Paul Gross as King Lear
Gordon Patrick White as the Fool
Shannon Taylor as Goneril, Daughter To Lear
Déjah Dixon-Green as Regan, Daughter To Lear
Tara Sky as Cordelia Daughter To Lear
My top three are:
Paul Gross as King Lear
Gordon Patrick White as the Fool
Tara Sky as Cordelia Daughter To Lear
Austin Eckert as Duke Of Albany, Husband To Goneril
Anthony Santiago as Earl Of Gloucester
Having watched a different Stratford production of this play just weeks before going it was fresh in my mind. Combine with the rereading of the play, I was primed for an amazing production. I have been a fan of Paul Gross for many years, and even still have a couple of his CD’s kicking around. But to see him in this role was incredible. It seems like it was a role he was born to play. This was a stunning production. Starting with the three pillars with light bars before the play begins to the empty set after the audience hall was nearly empty.
This was a standout show for us in the 2023 season, and for me one of the top shows I have seen in Stratford going back to class trips in the 80’s. It was a masterful production! I just wish it had been one the filmed for Stratford@Home or theatrical release.
Reviews of Other Stratford Productions:
Richard III – 2022
Hamlet – 2022
The Miser – 2022
King Lear – 2023
Frankenstein Revived – 2023
Grand Magic – 2023
A Wrinkle in Time – 2023
Goblin MacBeth - 2023
Something Rotten – 2024
Romeo & Juliette – 2024
Cymbeline – 2024
Twelfth Night – 2024
…
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