Queen Lear (Koningin Lear)

Tom Lanoye makes the King into a Queen in this play by Wiliam Shakespear performed by the Amsterdam theatregroup. Tom Lanoy is one of the most successful Flemish authors, he's known for his innovative, poetic adaptations of theatre classics. What is special about this play is that it is in Dutch but it is surtitled in English!

King Lear becomes Queen Lear, a monumental role he has written for actress Frieda Pittoors. The original play is about an old king, who splits up his kingdom among his three daughters and, in so doing, plunges himself and his country into ruin. What happens if you change those facts and make the king a queen? Queen Lear wants to divide her international organisation among her three sons. The story of Queen Lear is more about helplessness than power, about political impotence faced with incomprehensible contemporary phenomena such as the European crisis and wire tapping. 

Also performing: Hélène Devos, Jip van den Dool, Roeland Fernhout, Janni Goslinga, Alwin Pulinckx, Vanja Rukavina, Gijs Scholten van Aschat. Director: Eric de Vroedt

Music by Florentijn Boddendijk and Remco de Jong