A new production of King Lear, drawn from the world of opera, aims to put paid to the notion that great singers make second-rate actors. We speak to its stars
I had coffee recently with King Lear and Goneril. To be more precise, with John Tomlinson and Susan Bullock, who play these roles in a brand new production of Shakespeare’s tragedy – one to be staged at the Grange festival in Hampshire next month with a cast exclusively drawn from the world of opera. This, however, is no headline-seeking gimmick but a show that has been years in gestation.
Its director, Keith Warner, says it started with him, Tomlinson and Kim Begley (ex-RSC before turning to opera) planning a two-person version called Lear’s Shadow. Word quickly spread and a reading of the whole play was mounted in Warner’s house. The result is a full-scale production with a dream cast including not just Begley as the Fool but Thomas Allen as Gloucester, Emma Bell as Regan and Louise Alder as Cordelia.
