King Lear

Première 8. 11. 2025, Veliki oder SNT Drama Ljubljana

Running time 5 hours 20 minutes, with two intervals.

English surtitles

Post-performance discussion with the artists.

Director and dramaturg Jernej Lorenci

Translator Milan Jesih

Assistant director and sound designer Žiga Hren

Language consultant Tatjana Stanič

Set designer Branko Hojnik

Costume designer Belinda Radulović

Composer Andraž Polič

Choreographer and artistic collaborator Gregor Luštek

Lighting designer Jernej Lorenci, Branko Hojnik

Make-up artist Tomaž Erjavec

Assistant director (student) Neža Dvorščak

Assistant dramaturg (student) Manca Tea Devetak

Cast
Janez Škof, Tamara Avguštin as guest, Mina Švajger, Ivana Percan Kodarin as guest, Gorazd Logar, Marko Mandić, Timon Šturbej, Domen Novak, Jure Henigman, Peter Podgoršek as guest

Some analyses point out that Lear’s madness, as Shakespeare established it, is not only the catalyst for the drama, but also a mirror of the historical moment in which the society of that time found itself. Today’s reading of King Lear also depicts the contemporary social reality, once again on the edge of massive political changes and divisions.

After disowning his youngest daughter, Cordelia, the aging King Lear decides to divide his kingdom between his remaining daughters, Goneril and Regan. Planning to live alternately with each, Lear quickly finds himself powerless as the two, resentful of his presence and unpredictability, impose harsh conditions that strip him of dignity and control. King Lear is a searing study of violence and a radical dissection of both social structures and personal relationships in vacuous times of transition of power. This is Gramsci’s “time of monsters”, when the old world is dying and the new has yet to be born. It is a world in which the old gods refuse to go quietly, unleashing madness and chaos instead.