LEAR (Cream Faced Loons Theatre Company)*****

 

By Louise

Link to playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLp9ljWlQivIN3lhFgJNXBZ9zZyzPnxcon

Available until: Unknown

This is a really lovely and clever adaption of King Lear, set in the COVID era. There are sixteen episodes, all a couple of minutes long and it looks like they were posted on sixteen consecutive days.

The series was written by Abey Bradbury and it’s so good. She takes all the important events in King Lear and fits them really convincingly into the modern COVID world. It really surprised me how well it worked. King Lear is about the dividing up of lands and it has a very historical feel (King Lear is thought of as Shakespeare’s fictional King, but he’s based on a legendary King called King Leir), but I suppose the lands aren’t really the important part of the play – it’s about the relationships between parents and children. That is something which has gone on for centuries and will probably continue to go on forever.

It doesn’t have all the characters in. Gloucester doesn’t appear at all – he is only mentioned by his children, who are a son and a daughter in this adaption and it’s modern so it doesn’t matter if Edmund is illegitimate. I don’t remember anything about him being the result of an affair either. Edmund also isn’t evil, the only real villain in this story is COVID.

Lear’s family aren’t Royalty. The story is mostly focused on a female Lear and her relationship with her daughters, Ronnie (the modern version of Goneril), Regan and Cordelia, known as Lia. Two of her daughters know Edmund a bit too well and one of the daughters has a cousin staying with them who is preparing for her GCSEs and is known as the Fool. Edmund has a sister who is known as Ed (he’s a brother called Edgar in King Lear) and works for the NHS.

It’s a really lovely play. The end is quite worrying especially as I know how the real King Lear ends and there are a lot of sad moments but it is much happier than the original King Lear. Not all the characters behave well all the time, but they’re not as horrible as the King Lear characters. Ronnie and Regan are struggling in a challenging situation and Edmund is very naughty and likes to have fun, but I don’t think any of them wish any harm on any of the other characters. But there is still conflict in the play between lots of characters and it’s really well-written.

The female Lear doesn’t seem that old to me and I’m surprised her daughters see her as an old lady. Not even my granny is an old lady and my mum wouldn’t dream of telling her to stay at home, it is more likely to be the other way round! My granny is brilliant. But she is sensible and she keeps up with the rules. So she is different from Lear.

Lear is confused by all the rules and regulations (which is understandable when they keep changing and sometimes there is misinformation) and although they might have been explained to her once, Ronnie and Regan have confused the situation by visiting Lear at home and telling her it’s fine to visit family. But Lia refuses to visit. This is an act of love to protect her mother, who has asthma, but Lear sees it as a sign Lia doesn’t love her. Just like King Lear thinks Cordelia doesn’t love him when she won’t make extravagant statements about how much.

Slowly the different relationships start to fall apart and it’s sad, but it’s also really good to watch. Margaret Grimoldby is lonely and confused as Lear, but she also has a lot of spirit. Roze Elisa is a kind and caring Lia. Nicki Davy and Eleanor Hawthorne play Ronnie and Regan, two busy women who aren’t really horrible, but they have their own lives and responsibilities.

Adam Martin-Brooks is a really naughty Edmund who likes to have his fun, but he does have a lot of charm and I can see why Ronnie and Regan both like him. Abey Bradbury is really lovely as Ed, who is kind, caring and looks out for everybody. The other two actors only make brief appearances, but Heloise Spring is really lovely and fun as the Fool, and Allan Nicol seems very wise and caring as Lear’s friend Kent. I kind of wish they were in it more, but they aren’t in the whole of King Lear and I love the way the story has been so true to the play. It is a really good story with a lovely cast.