An extraordinary new production of William Shakespeare's King Lear with a 1960s gangland setting has opened at the Theatre Royal in Bath.
Taking the lead is actor David Haig who won rave reviews for his part as another monarch in The Madness of George III.
Lear is the third in a quartet of plays that form this year's summer season at the Theatre Royal. Artistic director Danny Moar, who says that three of them will, hopefully, go into London's West End later in the year, says he was so bowled over by the range of emotions portrayed by David Haig in The Madness that he was keen to see him play what is arguably Shakespeare's greatest role.
He said: "Many of the more recent productions have had a non-specific setting but because David is relatively young to be playing Lear it seemed right to set it in a particular period but not Elizabethan or earlier."
But Danny says the era of the Krays is really only for the unfolding of the story which eventually has its own momentum.
Directed by Lucy Bailey, this new staging of the Bard's powerful tragedy sees the drama unfold in 1960s East London, in a ruthless world of dangerous rivalries, tense turf wars and explosive family feuds. Striking design by William Dudley, one of the UK's most prolific and revered theatre designers and winner of seven Olivier Awards, will incorporate video projection and an extended stage.
Nearing retirement, the ageing King Lear prepares to carve up his kingdom between his offspring. When his two eldest daughters, Goneril and Regan flatter him with false praise, the widowed monarch foolishly rewards them by handing over his responsibilities and his territory. Meanwhile, his youngest daughter, Cordelia, honest to a fault and horrified by her sisters' excesses, confesses to simply love her father and is banished by the enraged patriarch. Too late to realise his mistake and forced from power by the villainy and betrayal of his own flesh and blood, an increasingly impotent and guilt-ridden Lear descends into madness.
David Haig returns to the Theatre Royal to play the greatest role in Shakespeare's canon, the ultimate tragic monarch King Lear, after receiving ecstatic reviews for his towering performance as George III in The Madness of George III in 2011, both in Bath and subsequently in the West End. One of the UK's most versatile actors, his many credits include the West End hit, Yes, Prime Minister on stage and on television.
He won the Olivier Award for Actor of the Year for his role in Our Country's Good at London's Royal Court, and received Olivier nominations for his roles in Mary Poppins and Donkeys' Years.
