DIY Macbeth returns to Anchor House of Artists (518 Pleasant Street in Northampton MA) for its second year and second production, this time of William Shakespeare’s tragedy King Lear, running April 11-20.
Lear is a play about an elderly king who wants to keep the title, but to give all kingly responsibilities to his children. Ostensibly (and ironically) to “prevent future strife,” Lear announces his intention to divide his kingdom into thirds—one for each of his three daughters. Instead, Lear is impelled to split the kingdom in two when his youngest, Cordelia, refuses to flatter him in exchange for her third. Lear’s lapse in judgement sets off a chain of dissolution and betrayal resulting in his exile, and eventually in the collapse of the kingdom. A concurrent subplot of betrayal by Edmund the bastard, first of his stepbrother Edgar, and then of his father Gloucester, helps to cement the bleak outlook of the play. As Jan Kott writes, “King Lear is a play about the disintegration of the world.”
Our Lear is set in 1936 Spain, during the lead-up to the Spanish Civil War. Lear the man recalls Spain’s president at the time, Manuel Azaña, a similarly hubristic figure who historian Stanley G. Payne refers to as “the last great figure of traditional Castilian arrogance in the history of Spain.” Lear’s abdication of the throne has echoes of Azaña’s eventual resignation as president. Pursued by Nationalists, Azaña finds himself and his hobbled government on the run toward Barcelona and eventual asylum in France. Similarly, the pursuit by the traitorous forces of Regan, Cornwall, Goneril, and Edmund takes Lear, Gloucester, and others on the side of good through England toward refuge in Dover. Both the play and this period end in a void in leadership, and a lack of vision. This is the soil in which dictators flourish; the ground is prepared for Franco’s takeover. And we are left, as always, with the imperative demonstrated by Cordelia and voiced by Edgar at the play’s conclusion: to speak what we feel, not what we ought to say.
DIY Macbeth is an unofficial, voluntary community group that embarks on experimental, literary-theatrical projects.
TICKETS
General Admission: $15 (17.39 w/ service fee)
IMPORTANT: There is limited space in our venue, and a high demand to see our show. Please buy only tickets you plan on using. TICKETHOLDERS WHO ARRIVE TO THE VENUE LATER THAN FIVE MINUTES BEFORE SHOWTIME MAY HAVE THEIR TICKETS REVOKED; there are no refunds.
Friday, April 11 at 7:00 PM ←LOW TICKET WARNING
Saturday, April 12 at 7:00 PM
Sunday, April 13 at 2:00 PM ←SOLD OUT!
Friday, April 18 at 7:00 PM
Saturday, April 19 at 7:00 PM
Sunday, April 20 at 2:00 PM
CAST
Rami Baglio as Edgar
Jon Bartlett as Cornwall
Cory Flood as Fool
Jill Franks as King Lear
Kate Gaffney as Goneril
Neale Gay as Messenger (4.2)
Daniel Greycloud-Jacob as Oswald
Ben Hersey as Kent
Jess Knox as Attendant, Gentlewoman, Knight
Willow Kwak as France, Curan, Doctor, and Herald
Andy Loverin as Albany
Lynne Peskoe-Yang as Edmund
Tom Piccin as Gloucester
Emma Reinhart as Burgundy, Old Man, Captain
Amanda Seymour as Cordelia
Rachel Stavely Hale as Regan
STEERING COMMITTEE and CREW
Jon Bartlett
Lindsey Blount
Neale Gay
Ben Hersey
Esther White
FIGHT COORDINATOR/SWORDS
Cory Flood
PROJECTION and SET DESIGN
Stephen St. Francis Decky
ART
Joshua Tetrault
