Preview: EUSC play King Lear

Edinburgh University Shakespeare Company return to the stage of The Pleasance Theatre this week in Shakespeare’s epic tragedy, King Lear.

As the ageing king descends into madness, his family cut him loose as things become simply too much for them to understand.

Written 410 years ago, for many, King Lear is the archetype on which all modern tragedy is based; a gruelling text in which Lear is dealt blow after blow in a struggle to retain something of his former self.

The EUSC production explores his struggle and his family’s reaction to exceptional circumstances.

When stripped of its grandeur and tradition, King Lear is far from an inaccessible 400-year-old text, but rather a thorough investigation of what it means to grow old and to be loved.

Now in its seventh year, Edinburgh University Shakespeare Company takes what is arguably Shakespeare’s greatest tragedy, with Henry Conklin directing and Will Fairhead in the title role.

Lear’s daughters Goneril, Regan and Cordelia are played by Caroline Elms, Agnes Kenig and Marina Windsor.

The cast also includes Tom Stuchfeld, Ben Schofeld, Oliver Huband, Macleod Stephen and Jordan Roberts-Laverty.

King Lear, The Pleasance, until Saturday, 7.30pm, £10, www.sparkseat.com/events/edinburgh-university-shakespeare-company-king-lear