NCPA Drama King Lear

Published on Dec 28, 2017

NCPA Drama King Lear

Rating:

Genre: NCPA

Dates: January 20-28, 2018

Venue: Drama Theatre of NCPA

Prices: 180, 300, 420, 500, 580, 680


Features: King Lear, one of Shakespeare’s “four great tragedies,” is based on an ancient British legend. From January 20-28, the NCPA drma commission King Lear will be stage in Drama Theatre of NCPA in Beijing.


BRIEF INTRODUCTION

King Lear, one of Shakespeare’s “four great tragedies,” is based on an ancient British legend. Shakespeare, according to his depiction of the internal chaos of the royal family and Lear’s shifting fortunes, portrays the tale with incisive and profound language, the divisiveness and contention of humanity given power and desire. Yet as the tragedy takes its powerful form, it remains replete with a yearning for love and cries for mercy, thus lending a fierce idealistic fervor to the work. Lear’s knowledge and stature are almost god-like, but in the course of successive misfortunes, the reverence for the god turns to scorn and abandonment, until the god and humanity are both shattered. Cordelia, the youngest daughter, having been heartlessly disowned, nevertheless becomes her father’s savior. King Lear is not only tragic in that Lear as king is devastated, but more importantly in that after all is said and done, even though his soul has been redeemed, his death remains inevitable, and that he has no possibility of resurrection. Penned by Shakespeare’s hand, this type of despair imbues the tragedy with a noble significance.


King Lear is NCPA’s third production of a Shakespearean play, after A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Hamlet, this time in cooperation with Mr. LI Liuyi’s Drama Estudio in Beijing. As a tribute to the master playwright, the NCPA (National Centre for the Performing Arts) has extended a special invitation to the script supervisor of the Royal Shakespeare Company to coach the actors, and selected Mr. YANG Shipeng’s rendering as the rehearsal script. German-born set designer, Michael Simon and Academy Award winner for Best Costume Design, Emi Wada combine talents to recreate The Bard’s cast of characters and ruined palace.


Additionally, the renowned theatre actor, PU Cunxi, gives a stark portrayal of Lear's departure from the height of glory and lapse into vagrancy. Lear’s three daughters’ vastly different personalities are brought to life on stage by YANG Qi, LU Fang, and WAN Qianhui, respectively. French-schooled actor WEI Xiaoping, the Beijing People’s Art Theatre’syoung actor, JIN Hao, and ZHAO Ling, from NCPA’s acting company, will play the Earl of Gloucester and his two sons. As the cast brings to light the two families’ desirous aims and secret plots in their striving for power, so too do they reenact the epic of human history, as well as present us with deep truths about our human condition.


NCPA Drama King Lear

Synopsis
At an advanced age, King Lear decides to divide his vast realm among his three daughters Cordelia, Goneril and Regan. He bids them to declare their love for him to find out who loves him the most. Goneril and Regan speak the sweetest words they can, which pleases him. However, the plain and honest youngest daughter Cordelia speaks what she feels is the truth, and is relentlessly expelled by him.


Cordelia who loses her homeland becomes the queen of France, while the eldest and second daughters who have received vast realms from their father throw him out of the castle. He doesn’t realize his mistake until he has nowhere to go in the wilderness. There, he blames himself for his ignorance and grieves for Cordelia’s bitter experience. The kind-hearted youngest daughter comes back to her father and recalls his ethereal sense with love and forgiveness. There is plotting, betrayal and war between the sisters, and the three daughters die off one by one. In the dark, King Lear looks up to the sky and weeps bitterly, holding the body of his youngest daughter.


Tickets for NCPA Drama King Lear are Available now!

TICKETS BOOKING

BOOKING INFORMATION

Online Tickets Booking Available now!

Children under 1.2m are NOT admitted!

Tickets can't returned or changed once sold!

DELIVERY & PAYMENT

Please booking tickets online or sales@theatrebeijing.com. After your reservation is confirmed, our staff will delivery (Free service) the tickets to your address(only in Beijing), you could pay cash(RMB) or credit card.

Fill out my online form.

BOOKING INFORMATION

Online Tickets Booking Available now!

Children under 1.2m are NOT admitted!

Tickets can't returned or changed once sold!

TICKET PRICES

  • 180
  • 300
  • 420
  • 500
  • 580
  • 680

Prices are in RMB (“×” Sold Tickets), Include Booking Fees

DELIVERY & PAYMENT

Please booking tickets online or sales@theatrebeijing.com. After your reservation is confirmed, our staff will delivery (Free service) the tickets to your address(only in Beijing), you could pay cash(RMB) or credit card.

VENUE GUIDE

Drama Theatre of Beijing National Grand Theatre

Drama Theatre of NCPA

West of Tiananmen Square, Beijing

Map & Seating Plan