Timeless Shakespeare and his “King Lear” return to the “Ohrid Summer” festival, this time in a production specially prepared for the festival audience and purposefully designed to be performed in the unique ambiance of the vestibule of “St. Sophia.”
As part of the American evening at “Ohrid Summer,” tonight at 21:00, the stage of the vestibule of “St. Sophia” will host the world premiere of the play “King Lear” by the Lit Moon Theatre Company from Santa Barbara, USA. As highlighted at today’s press conference, Shakespeare has been staged by countless theater companies with thousands of versions, but his works are always relevant, defying time with their messages, ideas, and interpretations of human nature.
Director John Blondell is at “Ohrid Summer” for the fifth time, but this time with a world premiere and an international cast of artists from Finland, the United Kingdom, Armenia, the USA, Macedonia, and more.
“The greatness of Shakespeare’s texts lies in their elasticity and flexibility. We shortened the play to 90 minutes, but nothing was lost from the themes and questions in the text concerning the human psyche, which transcend every culture. The question of blindness despite sight, loyalty, the consequences of aging, and bad life choices are always relevant. The uniqueness of our production is precisely in that we are an international team, and the play itself was prepared specifically for Ohrid. It is fundamentally created for ‘St. Sophia,'” said director Blondell.
The main role in the play is interpreted by Irwin Appel, who emphasized that the question of blindness despite sight is the thread running through the entire text of the play.
“The whole play is filled with references to blindness, not physical but internal blindness… the tragedy of being blind despite having eyes,” he said.
Appel mentioned that after last night’s rehearsal on the very stage where the play will be performed, many thoughts opened up for him.
“After last night’s rehearsal in ‘St. Sophia,’ that church is now an inseparable part of what we are working on. My character in the play often addresses God and nature. Yesterday, I analyzed a lot, considering where I am, and from where I am addressing the Gods,” he said.
Nina Sallinen, who plays Lear’s youngest daughter, highlighted that her uniqueness comes from Cordelia being the only character in the play who forgives and brings sincerity.
“The two weeks of intensive work in isolation, without much contact with the outside world, represent a form of meditation for us through which we could delve deeper into the core of the play. This way of preparation will certainly have an effect on us on a subconscious level. It’s hard to analyze while working on preparations; of course, we expect things to crystallize once we get on stage,” she said.
The set design and costumes are by Blagoj Micevski, who created quite striking costumes specifically for tonight’s premiere and the stage of the vestibule of “St. Sophia.”
“I have worked many times in ‘St. Sophia.’ The backdrop of the church is an ideal set for the costumes I created; they only complement the characters in the play and the relationships between them,” Micevski emphasized.
The roles in the play are interpreted by Irwin Appel, Brian Harwell, James McKernan, Nina Sallinen, Michael Bernard, Matthew Tavianini, Vardan Mkrtchyan, Mitchell Thomas, and Diane Henry.