Lancaster University student gets to grips with King Lear and all that jazz

Artistic line drawing of trumpet in black and white
Image supplied courtesy of Darren Cullen

Enter King Lear’s fool¡­He’s zany and unpredictable, and not sounding too Shakespearean these days. He’s more into jazz.

Here's Shakespeare’s King Lear like you’ve never seen it.

Third year AHRC-funded, Creative Writing PhD student at Lancaster University Rupert Smith, an actor and spoken word performer, takes the lead and only role in a show which jazzes up an ancient Shakespeare play.

Set between a flooded wilderness outpost and a theatre full of dust, King Lear’s fool spouts a 50-minute monologue, the re-telling of a great tragedy as comically grotesque as it is fantastical.

There are a fool’s life lessons on the way - how trumpet mutes get to play, how to breathe while acting your face off, how to cry, and what to do when you meet a giant pelican.

The monologue, also crafted by Rupert, can be seen in The Auditorium at The Storey in Lancaster on October 17 at 7.30pm. Tickets available via ticketsource.co.uk

This performance is funded by the North West Consortium Doctoral Training Partnership (AHRC).

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