Edward Bond’s contemporary version of the renowned Shakespearian King Lear is a reflection on the indissoluble relationship between men and power. The plot develops around a wall, a compression, a state of widespread danger. Lear talks about violence in all its possible forms, from the private ones to the more wisely democratic; about societies that manipulate the concepts of violence so as to make it more and more acceptable.
Thirty five characters played by eight actors, with Elio De Capitani in the role of Lear, move on a practically bare stage, with metallic scaffolding pipes on which are spread semi-transparent drapes. While the structure seems to recall the ruins of a fancy palace, its sounds and ambiences emanate a sense of destruction which is deeply-rooted in the present world. And everything is surrounded by the silent and unrelenting wall, evoked in the unfathomable depths of the souls of the characters. Ancient, yet very present recollection, that imprisons all our history in more and more violent and claustrophobic enclosures.
The performance lasts 2 hrs and 10 minutes.