Lost Lear
★★★★☆ Affecting
Traverse (Venue 15): Sun 27 Jul – Sun 24 Aug 2025
Review by Hugh Simpson
Deeply sad, gently comic and profoundly human, Lost Lear from the Riverbank and Mermaid Arts Centres at the Traverse is an emotional affair.
The play (by Dan Colley and the company ‘after William Shakespeare’) is set in Ireland. As part of a form of memory therapy for dementia, retired actor Joy (Venetia Bowe) is constantly reliving and rehearsing a long-ago production of King Lear, aided by therapist Liam (Manus Halligan).
Lost Lear. Pic: Ste Murray
Joy’s estranged son Conor (Peter Daly, who shares the part with Gus McDonagh) is somewhat nonplussed by the treatment, and apparently can only relate to Joy by taking on the role of Cordelia. Even though he isn’t off book, much to Joy’s disgust.
The play is deeply moving, extremely subtle and surprisingly funny. Its centrepiece is an absolutely electrifying performance by Bowe, who is endlessly energetic yet convincingly frail.
There is a thorough believability to Joy’s treatment of others, not least in the strained relationship with the son she hardly ever knew. Daly, meanwhile, is resolutely human as the son, with his bewilderment at everything that is taking place.
gently comic and puckish
Halligan’s carer is also beautifully played – gently comic and puckish, but also somewhat slippery and evasive. The ensemble is completed by Em Ormonde and Clodagh O’Farrell in largely non-speaking roles, including some sublime puppetry.
There are other visual features of note. Too many recent productions make great use of projections simply because they can, rather than considering what they add. Here, the live video effects (designed by Ross Ryder, deftly handled by on-stage AV Laura Rainsford) add greatly to the impact, and have a rare clarity and emotional weight.
Lost Lear. Pic: Ste Murray
Andrew Clancy’s design, Suzie Cummins’s lighting, Kevin Gleeson’s sound design and Daniel MacCauley’s music are similarly generous in the way they contribute to the whole. Colley directs with real empathy.
The end result will be instantly recognisable to anyone with dementia, but also accessible to anyone else.
Not everything quite comes off. The parallels with Lear do not stand up the closest of scrutiny in the way they play out, while the ruminations on the power of theatre are perhaps overdone. Indeed, the constant references to theatrical practice might not be as fascinating to the average viewer as they are to insiders, and do stray dangerously close to in-joke territory at times.
powerful
The overall effect, however, is remarkably powerful, and not a little disturbing. This is described as a ‘remix’ of Lear, and it is interesting just how often such a technique has come up recently, with Ramesh Meyyappan’s Lear and Tim Crouch’s Truth’s A Dog Must To Kennel being two of the very best productions of recent years.
It is perhaps unfair to say that Lost Lear is not quite in that company, but it is very good on its own terms.
Running time: One hour and 15 Minutes (no interval).
Traverse Theatre (Traverse 1), 10 Cambridge St, EH1 2ED. (Venue 15).
Sunday 27 July – Sunday 24 August 2025.
Daily (Not Mon): Various times (see website for details)
Tickets and details: Book here on EdFringe.com.
Book here on the Traverse Website.
Riverbank Arts Centre:www.riverbank.ie.
Mermaid Arts Centre: www.mermaidartscentre.ie.
Lost Lear. Pic: Ste Murray
ENDS
