KQED
Marcus Gardley’s ‘LEAR’ is a Culturally Rich Re-Imagining of Shakespeare
By Ariana Proehl | Sep 23, 2022
When King Lear, played by James A. Williams, first appears on stage, he wears a long fur coat. His crown: a black fedora with gold ribbon trim. It’s a distinctly Black regalness that makes you think Teddy Pendergrass, not Anthony Hopkins. The scene is San Francisco’s Fillmore District in 1969–a time of “urban renewal,” which led to gentrification and the upheaval of Black communities.
