California Shakespeare Theater will present the world premiere of Lear, Obie-winning playwright Marcus Gardley’s modern verse translation of William Shakespeare’s King Lear, beginning September 7 prior to an official opening September 14 in the Bruns Memorial Amphitheater.
A paranoid, selfish and unreliable monarch is overthrown. Sound familiar?
There’s something about William Shakespeare’s “Richard II” that resonated with African-American Shakespeare Company artistic director L. Peter Callender more than ever in recent years.
Make no mistake, this “modern verse translation” of Richard II by Naomi Iizuka, commissioned by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Play On! project, is Shakespearean to the core.
It can be tricky business, tinkering with the words of William Shakespeare. On one hand, let’s face it, his plays can be a real slog for those of us who are iambic pentameter-averse. On the other hand, c’mon: The dude was the Bard. They don’t give you a title like that if you are a hack.
The African-American Shakespeare Company production of Richard II, in a new Play On! translation by Naomi Iizuka, runs this weekend and next April 15-24, 2022, at the Marines Memorial Theatre in San Francisco. Director L. Peter Callender and star Lijesh Krishnan discuss the creation of this production.
