El Rey Lear

This contemporary intermedial adaptation of Shakespeare's classic play King Lear explores the impact of transmedial scenography on dramaturgy within the field of post-dramatic theatre. It was performed in one of the principal theatres in Santiago de Chile as part of the main house season.

The work was a co-production with Chilean company La Luciernaga; Hugo Medina, their principal actor, played the role of King Lear. Brooks’ credited role was as director/adaptor, and as such he was the lead artist on the project. Performance projects are by their nature collaborative efforts and this large-scale example involved 20 performers as well as technicians and other creative contributors, particularly in the area of musical composition and design. Brooks’ work with the performance company Imitating The Dog (ITD) (comprising Brooks (Director), Quick (Lancaster University) and Simon Wainwright) is particularly concerned with exploring the aesthetics of transmedial theatre performance, and the dramaturgical implications of incorporating digital material into the live event. The invitation to direct El Rey Lear in Chile came as a direct result of previous productions Brooks has directed there, which have been seen as influential to the development of transmedial scenography in Chile. These projects have been extensions of Brooks’ work with ITD (and involved some of his principal collaborators but within different creative frameworks). Brooks’ previous project there, an adaptation of Pinter’s ‘The Caretaker’, is noted for the way it integrated live performance and digital film.

The research focus of Lear was on exploring the representational regimes of cinema theatre and literature; with particular emphasis on creating an intertextual transmediality. El Rey Lear was commissioned by the Teatro de la Universidad Catolica and funded by Fondart.

Performed in Spanish.