LEAR ALONE Comes to Edinburgh in August

Using just King Lear's lines from Shakespeare's timeless tragedy to explore themes of loneliness, ageing and homelessness, Lear Alone is a study of one man's vulnerability as he confronts and negotiates a digital world. As Shakespeare's King loses his power, his sanity and his home, so does the actor playing Lear as he tries to find his voice and his place in a world that is rendering him invisible. Lear Alone is the theatrical realisation of And Tomorrow Theatre Company's five-part Arts Council-funded web series which was presented in partnership with CRISIS and which won the Off West End Award for Best Online Series 2022.  

 

Creative Producer Sarah Lawrie said: “Tomorrow Theatre Company are committed to creating challenging work that shines a light on societal taboos. The damning statistics around homelessness amongst the elderly was a theme I passionately wished to explore and expose in Lear Alone. By centring our story on Shakespeare's ageing protagonist, audiences will get a radical reworking of a classic tale: one which may resonate with their lived experience or challenge their preconceptions around homelessness, older age and social isolation.” 

 

Anthony Shrubsall is a freelance director, founder member of And Tomorrow Theatre Company and former academic. Also at this year's Fringe, he directs The Good Dad (The Hope Theatre/Off West End Award nomination for best Director). Other work includes A Boy Called Porro (Pleasance Theatre), An Absence Of (Old Court, Windsor, and winner of the Kenneth Branagh New Writers' award), It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play (Old Joint Stock Theatre, Birmingham), The Gin Chronicles series (ArtsSpace Edinburgh), and Richard Tyrone Jones's Big Heart, adapted into a series for BBC Radio 4. He has directed two short cross disciplinary promotional films of Shakespeare works: Macbeth with Terry Deary, author of the Horrible Histories and, Romeo and Juliet with Tate Modern. 

 

Actor Edmund Dehn has most recently filmed 'The F**k It Bucket' (Left Bank Pictures, NetFlix) and The Curse (Shiny Button, Channel 4). He has also appeared in the Norwegian TV hit, State of Happiness - aka Lykkeland (Maipo Films, Norway) and the feature film Vesper (2022). Edmund played Lear in And Tomorrow's web series Lear Alone which has now been adapted into this play. TV includes Speer und Er (Bavariafilm), The 10%ers (semi-regular), Knightmare (Anglia TV), Lovejoy and Strange Landscape. Film includes the Mexican feature film, The Containment (Avanti Pictures), Spoon (Inspired Minority, South Africa), Lovelorn (Best Supporting Actor LA Reel Film Festival 2009), You Need Help (Best Actor in a Comedy Westfield Film Festival 2019) and Junta & Afterlife (Cannes Short Film Corner 2014 & 2015 respectively). He played the title role in The Judge Minty Fan Film (over 1 million views on YouTube). Edmund is a successful voice actor for commercials, games and audio books and the sole reader on the unabridged Gormenghast Trilogy. Theatre includes Prospero in The Tempest (Northumberland Theatre Company/The Kings Head), The Book of Job (Norwich Theatre Royal Company), Krapp's Last Tape (Elysium Theatre Company) and Death of a Hunter (Finborough Theatre). Edmund appeared in Fringe First winning The Seven Faces of Sinbad by Triad Stage Alliance in 1979.  

 

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