In this interview, professor Christopher Petit shares his vision and hopes for the latest King Lear production.

NC: King Lear is a classic play, so what do you find most interesting and challenging when making this production?

CP: I think the thing that the production has done this time is that we tried to find a contemporary way to tell the story. So we tried to explore the play, like how you would explore a play if you are to write a paper about it. Nowadays, in order to look for information about a play people tend to go to the internet to do research; they could read an article or watch a video. I wanted to take this idea of research, the contemporary engagement of something, and make it part of the story telling. That’s what we did, we used a lot of videos and things like that.

NC: This play is set in a mix-period context. How did you come to that choice?

CP: Again, it’s similar to the other thing when I said I wanted it to feel contemporary. Most of the people who come and see it will be students, so I want to make it feel like their world. But at the same time it’s a play, a classic play, so we came up with the term modern-medieval.

NC: How do you see the story in the play itself fit into modern time?

CP: The story is well-known and a classic for a reason. This story is about filial ingratitude. It’s about the relationship between children and parents, which is a universal thing.

NC: Also, are there any others personal reasons that compelled you to take on this production of King Lear?

CP: Well, more than anything, I think it’s the connection to Encounters. They were interested in having it in the syllabus. That’s mostly why.

NC: From your perspective of a director, what do you think are the challenges that the actors and actresses of this production had to take on themselves?

CP: It depends on the person. The person who plays Lear is a 22-year-old woman playing a 75-year-old man. Also the language is not what we’re used to speaking, so that’s another challenge.

NC: Is there anything else you would like to tell me about this production?

CP: I hope you like it. It’s very streamlined (the original play is 4-hour long, and we’re doing 1-hour and 45-minute play), and I hope it’s meant to entertain as much as it’s meant to educate.