Not King Lear

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Synopsis

Not King Lear tells the story of Shakespeare’s tale of family strife, coloured by the lens of the experiences of members of Hobson Street Theatre Company (HSTC), an award winning group created in 2010 in partnership with the Auckland City Mission.

The story of an old man in conflict with his children, giving away his authority and falling into homelessness and mental ill-health before his eventual death and ending up homeless, provides the framework for this new work, that is firmly rooted in contemporary Aotearoa and yet ‘rhyming’ with Shakespeare’s original.

Not King Lear is devised by company members and UK based guest director Adrian Jackson, who has previously adapted two Shakespeare plays in co-productions between the Royal Shakespeare Company and Cardboard Citizens, the company of ex-homeless actors he founded in London in 1992.

It is definitely not King Lear…..

“Adrian Jackson’s production with Hobson Street Theatre Company will bring fresh light to Shakespeare’s masterpiece… It will be clear sighted and lyrically poetic, angry and controlled, brutally honest and playfully sophisticated.”

Michael Boyd
Artistic Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company 2002-12

Creative Team and Crew

Director: Adrian Jackson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrian_Jackson_(theatre_director)
UK guest director Adrian Jackson has previously adapted two Shakespeare plays, Pericles (2003) and Timon of Athens (2006), in collaborations between the Royal Shakespeare Company and Cardboard Citizens, the company of ex-homeless actors he founded in London in 1992. This production follows on from his visit to Auckland in 2022 to deliver Theatre of the Oppressed workshops with HSTC and researchers working on the Health Research Council funded project ‘Wellbeing and Precariat’.

Associate Director: Bronwyn Bent
Bronwyn is an arts producer, theatre maker and community arts practitioner whose artistic practice is largely grounded in creating professional work with non-professionals.
Bronwyn has been the Artistic Director of HSTC for the last 13 years and brings her extensive on-the-ground creative and community leadership experience to this work.

Tuakana: Borni Tukiwaho
Borni has worked regularly as a core HSTC director and facilitator since 2012. For this production he will work with the creative team to examine the development processes and artistic content with a specific focus on Māori cultural tikanga, safety and authenticity.

Cast: The cast for this production will be drawn from current HSTC company members and also from our ongoing weekly drop in workshops at the Auckland City Mission. This will provide a mix of company members who have worked with us as actors for several years and who have toured with the company, and those who are brand new to our work. All company members have a connection with the Auckland City Mission as people who have used their services or been staff or volunteers.

The way we devise our work allows for different levels of acting experience, people’s ability to commit to more (or less) intensive rehearsal schedules due to health or other reasons and also people’s ability to take on board, memorise and deliver specific direction and dialogue.

Number of People in the Touring Party

11