In Lear, TheatreWorks' artistic director Ong Keng Sen had a vision, one where he imagined Shakespeare's greatest tragedy as a juxtaposition of different Asian cultures, languages and art forms, both traditional and contemporary. It was an ambitious notion but Ong accomplished it. Upon its 1997 premiere in Japan, it quickly became a groundbreaking intercultural theatre production, and subsequently performed to nine cities in the Asia-Pacific and Europe.
In 2012, LEAR DREAMING distils this Shakespearean tragedy on patriarchy and succession through the purity of Japanese Noh theatre. You will enter the mind of a past king and access his memories.
The timing for such a production is apt. In our present time when giants can fall and lines of authority are redrawn, the turbulence encapsulating Lear's humanity, time's passing and transience becomes an allegory of the world today.