Touchstone Theatre to Present KING LEAR

Touchstone Theatre presents longtime friends, collaborators, and fellow ensemble theatre artists of The Independent Eye theatre company in their adaptation of William Shakespeare's tragedy King Lear. The play, which runs October 15-18, 2015, features two actors and twenty puppets.

Sprung from The Independent Eye's series of landmark actor/puppet stagings -Macbeth, The Tempest, Frankenstein, Descent of Inanna - this new, powerful adaptation features Lear as literal and figurative puppeteer in a puppet show of his own making. As the tragic king obsessively plays out his loss of family, power, shelter, sanity, and hope, his Fool stage-manages his story until both succumb to madness. Actors and master puppeteers Conrad Bishop and Elizabeth Fuller operate various life-sized, hand, and finger puppets; Fuller also composed the music score.

"We have approached Shakespeare only when we felt that we could bring a unique vision to the work," says Bishop, who also directs the piece. "For us, Shakespeare is uniquely suited to puppetry because the stories are deeply metaphorical, and the medium allows shifts from realistic behavior to metaphor in startling ways. And puppets allow a broad gestural life that's true to the Elizabethan style of acting and totally absent on the live-actor stage today."

The Independent Eye's King Lear premiered to critical acclaim in San Francisco last April and was also featured at the San Diego Puppetry Festival. Over the last 40 years the company has logged over 3,000 shows in cities - big and small - across the country; this performance is part of a ten-city national tour.

Bishop and Fuller warn that the show, which is 100 minutes with no intermission, is "Shakespeare at his fiercest," and despite its use of puppets, it is not suitable for children. The performance is highly verbal and emotionally intense with text that is regarded as one of the Bard's darkest tragedies.

Touchstone's season of mainstage productions is supported locally by season sponsors First Generation, an integrated marketing communications company, and RCN. WDIY provides media sponsorship. Print sponsorship is provided by Working Dog Press. King Lear is supported by Touchstone's show sponsor Sahl Communications.

The Independent Eye's King Lear performs October 15-18, 2015 at Touchstone Theatre. Shows are Thursday through Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 2pm; tickets are $25 / $15 for students and seniors, with group rates available on request. On Thursdays, Touchstone offers a pay-what-you-will option at the door only, allowing patrons to name their own ticket price. Advance tickets may be purchased at 610-867-1689 or online at www.touchstone.org

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