Rehearsal images have been released for Lear, a brand new play starring Ian McKellen and Taylor Russell, built from Shakespeare’s text and every conversation recorded with McKellen while making it, opening at The Yard Theatre on 17 November.
Ian McKellen has performed in King Lear 708 times, according to The Yard. He’s never done it like this. Lear isn’t a revival. It’s a new play, co-written by Simon Stephens and The Yard’s founder and artistic director Jay Miller, who also directs, made from Shakespeare’s words and every conversation they recorded with McKellen along the way.
The result blurs actor and king. In an exchange released with the images, McKellen says he’s organised his life so that acting is the main thing he does, Lear says his wits begin to turn, and McKellen replies: “So if I’m not acting, what’s the point?” It’s a play, they say, about endings, refusing to stop and what’s left when you do.
Taylor Russell joins him, with Lear’s knights played by an ensemble of dancers and movement artists, Bobi Coates, Kanako Nakano, Camille Ifé Pettiford and Leo Udvarlaky, choreographed by Malik Nashad Sharpe.
Photo credits: Marc Brenner
Our take: A theatre legend turning his most famous role into a conversation about his own life is a bold move, and a 70-minute show with no interval should be all the sharper for it.
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