Shakespeare’s Globe Presents King Lear on Tour at Calderstones Mansion House

King Lear - Shakespeare's Globe on Tour
Calderstones Mansion House Garden, Calderstones Park, Liverpool L18 3JD ‎
7.30pm, Tuesday 13th and Wednesday 14th August

We are delighted to announce that the Garden Theatre at Calderstones Mansion House will be re-opened for the first time in over 30 years by the world renowned Shakespeare's Globe award-winning small-scale touring production. They are bringing King Lear, Shakespeare's ultimate tragedy, to The Garden Theatre at Calderstones Mansion House on Tuesday 13th and Wednesday 14th August 2013, as part of its summer tour across the UK and Europe.

Old King Lear, weary of royal duties, proposes to break up his kingdom and divide it among his three daughters. But this rash generosity is cruelly repaid and Lear discovers too late the false values by which he has lived and, in turn, the suffering common to all humanity. Its tempestuous poetry shot through with touches of humour and moments of heartrending simplicity render King Lear as one of the deepest artistic explorations of the human condition.

"No man will ever write a better tragedy than Lear" - George Bernard Shaw

King Lear (c. Ellie Kurttz)

The first time the play has been produced for a small scale tour, the eight strong cast features Joseph Marcell as Lear, best known as Geoffrey in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and last at the Globe in Much Ado About Nothing, and screen actor Rawiri Paratene, star of the Whale Rider, as Gloucester. The production is directed by Bill Bucklehurst, well known at Shakespeare’s Globe where he has directed Hamlet with Dominic Dromgoole and played Antipholus in The Comedy of Errors.

Globe Theatre On Tour, Shakespeare’s Globe is a faithful reconstruction of the open-air playhouse for which he wrote many of his greatest plays, situated on Bankside, London. For the last five years Globe Theatre On Tour have taken productions to castles, festivals, parks and town squares. Previous productions have included Henry V, Anne Boleyn, As You Like It and Hamlet (2012), and this production of King Lear will feature an Elizabethan style booth stage, inspired by paintings and etchings from Shakespeare's time.

'The Globe does something else to a play: it makes it a communal, shared experience and when a show fires up as this does, there’s nowhere better to be.' -  Sunday Express

The touring production of King Lear is an astounding addition to our schedule of summer events at Calderstones Mansion House and is the first of many performances we hope to host at the Garden Theatre.

Tickets for the performances cost £20/£15 concessions (Get Into Reading group members/staff/senior citizens/students/unemployed) and can be booked via the Shakespeare's Globe website or by phoning the Globe Box Office on 020 7401 9919. There is a transaction fee of £2.50 for online purchases.

Audience members are advised to bring blankets to use during the performance, and to use public transport where possible as there is very limited space in the public car park. Feel free to bring your own refreshments, but please leave alcohol at home.

Join in the conversation on Twitter by using the hashtag #Lear