Unstaging King Lear

In 2008, Singapore audiences were treated to two large-scale King Lear productions: the internationally acclaimed Royal Shakespeare Companyʹs production, directed by Trevor Nunn, with Ian McKellen in the lead role, and Ho Tzu Nyen and Fran Borgiaʹs The King Lear Project: A Trilogy. The two productions are drastically different in that the former is a production of King Lear proper, while the latter is an experimental project that uses Lear as a frame to explore, discover and critique the nature ofstagecraft and audience perception through a series of notable Lear essays. The King Lear Project is not an adaptation of Lear, but a three-night performance about the play. Ho and Borgiaʹs work questions if it is possible to stage Lear, and if there is in fact a ʹrightʹ and ʹproperʹ way to do so. For local audiences, these questions are immensely provocative for several reasons, especially since the Nunn-McKellen Lear has since been declared - by way of critical reviews - the definitive King Lear. The metatheatricality of the Lear Project implicates audience members and demands an understanding from them through active engagement that is otherwise not required in conventional productions. Ho and Borgiaʹs assumptions of audience perception are strikingly accurate and telling, and they consider the complex negotiations between literary and theatrical experiences, or what Ho calls ʹWord and Fleshʹ. By turning to the history and the processes of staging what is believed to be Shakespeareʹs most ʹunstageableʹ tragedy, the Lear Project also questions the future of Shakespeareʹs modern theatre. This dossier, which includes an in-depth review of the play, a commentary by an actor in the play, and an interview with the author/director of the Lear Project, hopes to construct a critical and insightful understanding of the making and reception of this original and ambitious piece of work.