King Lear
© Maarten Vanden Abeele

With his adaption of Shakespeare’s King Lear, Lauwers is continuing consistently on the path he has mapped out, by regularly alternating his own projects with a piece by Shakespeare, to whose plays he so much likes to return.
The universal, timeless themes and the unequalled poetry of Shakespeare’s plays again and again present a challenge to the contemporary play-maker Jan Lauwers. The adaptations he has done in the past revealed points of emphasis which at the same time gave indications regarding the sort of confrontation entered into between these classic texts and the environment and mental world of a contemporary director. One aspect of his mental world is his fascination for death and power. The essence of Lauwers updating of Shakespeare can be seen in his ways of depicting death; in this contemporary reading he opts to attach a significance linked to the needs of the age.

The weight of this sad time we must obey; Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say. The oldest hath borne most; we that are young Shall never see so much nor live so long.’

King Lear is Shakespeare’s most ‘uncomfortable’ play. And this feeling of discomfort was censored for almost two hundred years until Kean restored it to its rightful position in the 19th century.Compared to the splendid death scenes of, for example, Antony and Cleopatra in that tragedy, the heroes in King Lear die a completely insignificant, unsatisfying death

‘Too huge for the stage’ is another comment often heard. Shakespeare wanted to say too much in one go. But my opinion is that in this play Shakespeare puts his artistry above his theatre craftsmanship.In this play he comes out more than ever as a universal contemporary artist who allows form and matter to conflict with content in order to arrive at a different meaning.

What I am looking for in my theatre work is the moment when form and content make an ‘absolute’ image that goes beyond all anecdotalism. Moments when time seems to stand still and the image carves itself into the memory. I call them borderline images.King Lear is an image that looks back at the audience, arrogant, provocative and in deathly silence. King Lear does not give any answers.It shows malevolence and suffering without comment.For that reason it is perhaps ‘too huge for the stage’.

(Jan Lauwers)

 

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With his adaption of Shakespeare’s King Lear, Lauwers is continuing consistently on the path he has mapped out, by regularly alternating his own projects with a piece by Shakespeare, to whose plays he so much likes to return.
The universal, timeless themes and the unequalled poetry of Shakespeare’s plays again and again present a challenge to the contemporary play-maker Jan Lauwers. The adaptations he has done in the past revealed points of emphasis which at the same time gave indications regarding the sort of confrontation entered into between these classic texts and the environment and mental world of a contemporary director. One aspect of his mental world is his fascination for death and power. The essence of Lauwers updating of Shakespeare can be seen in his ways of depicting death; in this contemporary reading he opts to attach a significance linked to the needs of the age.

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