Lost Lear

A moving and darkly comic remix of Shakespeare’s play told from the point of view of Joy, a person with dementia, who is living in an old memory of rehearsing King Lear.

Joy’s delicately maintained reality is upended by the arrival of her estranged son who, being cast as Cordelia, must find a way to speak his piece from within the limited role he’s given.

Using puppetry, projection and live video effects, the audience are landed in Joy’s world as layers of her past and present, fiction and reality, overlap and distort.

Lost Lear is a thought provoking meditation on theatre, artifice and the possibility of communicating across the chasms between us.

Lost Lear is part of the Traverse's £1 Ticket Project.

Image: Pato Cassinoni

Funded by Culture Ireland, the Arts Council of Ireland and supported by Fishamble’s New Play Clinic.

The Traverse Theatre is funded by Creative Scotland and the City of Edinburgh Council.

Reviews:

​​★★★★★ 'It is devastating stuff, deftly done.' ​- The Stage

★★★★★ 'An astonishing piece of theatre' - Financial Times

​​★★★★★ 'Colley's Lost Lear is a theatrical tour de force that bravely visits painful places to tenderly illuminate them'​- The Arts Review

​​★★★★★ 'Brilliantly conceived and executed... remarkable achievement' ​- The Examiner

★★★★★'A deeply accomplished and moving piece of work'- Across the Arts

★★★★★ 'Profound' - Corr Blimey

★★★★★ 'Wonderful, insightful theatre' - ThreeWeeks Edinburgh

★★★★★ 'staggeringly empathetic'- LondonTheatre1

★★★★ 'As intelligent as it is moving' - The Times

★★★★ 'Flawless' - British Theatre Guide

★★★★ 'Pure genius' - Binge Fringe

★★★★ '(A) fascinating contemporary remix' - Lyn Gardner

​​★★★★ 'Absorbing… Bowe gives a remarkable performance' - Irish Mail on Sunday

★★★★ 'A crisp, fresh reinterpretation' - Fest

★★★★'Delivers a forceful punch in the gut' - The Arts Desk

Award nominations:

Best New Play at the Irish Times Theatre Awards

Audience Choice at the Irish Times Theatre Awards

Best AV Design at the Irish Times Theatre Awards

Best Supporting Actor at the Irish Times Theatre Awards

If you have access requirements, please contact our Sales and Welcome Team on boxoffice@traverse.co.uk or 0131 228 1404 so we can arrange reserved seating for you and discuss how else we can best support your visit.