I am making the relationship of Edgar and Edmond in King Lear the central axis around which all other characters, and so Shakespeare’s story, revolve. No longer just a sub-plot, reflecting the story of Lear and his daughters, the brotherly duo is now the principal catalyst by which all other parts, are affected to change. From this brother-catalyst, every other dramatic (sceneographic, stylistic, and so on) choice is made. 

What I believe is the essential kernel to Shakespeare’s play - a fight between the generations, those fighting to exist, those fighting not to be forgotten - is then played out through inheritor, Edgar (the established ideologique order) and the bastard, Edmond (the potential revolutionary - an inevitable part of any situation of domination). The brothers are at the forefront of my interpretation, a pure incarnation of the kernel of Shakepeare’s King Lear. The relation between Lear and his daughters is then examined through their eyes, on the same plateau. 

The text as our theatrical material. Working with King Lear is plunging into Shakespeare’s most psychologically delicate and complicated work. His text is the foundation of our work in rehearsals, but before the audience it should seem as if the piece is being created on the spot, through the imagination of the two brothers. Some scenes are played uncut. Sometimes just a sentence, or a word takes their place. Sometimes, a new character entering the stage will signify a sudden change in story. Our work is largely influnced by Michael Chekov’s theories on “les centres moteurs”, in exploring how to exist as different characters simultaneously. The words are those of Shakespeare but are also the natural extension of the bodies of Edgar and Edmond; thinking of them as teenagers with feelings too powerful to commincate. 

Teenagers that feel misunderstood, unable to communicate themselves properly. In trying to express themselves, their attempts reach the surface violently, taking their shape from what they find around them. Laughter goes hand in hand with insults, blood, tears, creativity, destruction, foulness, poetry, and the sublime. They are but poor imitations of what they can see ; Edgar and Edmond’s naivety also belongs to the 2 actors on stage. No one knows how far this brotherly and fatricidal game will go each night. This is is the secret part of an actor’s work : it makes the attention he pays to his partner and his own surroundings his sole support for his own creativity to spring out at any given time.

« why bastard, wherfore base » sounds like Edmond’s intimate realization. This stabbing and obsessive question puts him face to face with his human condition. It’s a true revolution. Struggle for equality. It is clearly the starting point to his revenge on society. What happens when law and order are no longer provided by an unchallenged  gure of authority ? When there are taken over by young people whose hopes and desires are no longer bounded by the rules of feasibility ? Morality disappears, along with points of reference.

Our setting has signs of this Old World Edmond wishes to overthrow. « King Lear » starts at the end of a reign. We are committed to drawing a sensitive line between Shakespeare’s description of the Old World and its adolescent forecast. Hints of this Old Age need to be on stage : old irons, a coal stove, an old clock or granddad’s pipe are all signs of parentage Edmond wishes to destroy. We may compare the state in which King Lear’s kingdom is left to our present world. It seems we are now getting to the end of a cycle that calls for all sorts of revolutions. The imaginations of both legitimate Edgar and bastard Edmond come to life on those ruins.

Sylvain Levitte

NOTHING, LA TRAGÉDIE DU ROI LEAR

by The Tragedy of KING LEAR, William Shakespeare

translation (to french) Jean-Michel Déprats

adaptator, designer and director Sylvain Levitte

associate director Clara Noël

cast Jean-Christophe Legendre et Loïc Renard

sound designer Clémentine Bergel

lighting designer Vincent Gabriel

pictures Matthieu Touzé

assistant director Flore Babled

voice coach Cécile Leterme

1h15 - all people can see the show

E-mail : leschosesontleurssecrets@gmail.com

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Sylvain Levitte (director) : +33 (0) 6 71 50 68 97

Sandrine Pluvinet (president) : +33 (0) 6 50 60 23 21

Vincent Gabriel (technique contact) : +33 (0) 6 82 93 65 13