The Crude Mechanicals will close out the company's third season by producing one of Shakespeare's most turbulent tragedies, in which eyes are plucked out, multiple assassinations are planned, and madness is omnipresent. "King Lear" runs from Thursday through Jan. 8 at Mount Sequoyah's Clapp Auditorium in Fayetteville.
"'Lear' is a world divided," explains director and Crude Mechanicals co-founder, Zachary Stolz. "You have a king who divides up his kingdom in what seems like an almost arbitrary way, asking his daughters who loves him the most -- and then the world seems to spiral into chaos from there."
FAQ
‘King Lear’
WHEN — 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Jan. 8
WHERE — Mount Sequoyah’s Clapp Auditorium, 150 NW Skyline Drive in Fayetteville
COST — Pay what you will
INFO — www.facebook.com/Th…
Stolz says he can't help but see parallels in "Lear" and today's political and cultural climate, which is one of the reasons the company chose the show for the season closer.
"Lear is a world of division, of power-hungry people," he says. "We have characters who have an excess of ambition that blinds them and leads them to hurt people they love or have sworn to protect.
"I think no matter where you stand politically, this year has been a year of upheaval and revelation. There's something cantankerous and dark hiding in Lear's world, and while I generally call myself an optimist, I think there's something just like that in ours. "
Stolz says that, despite the turbulence and rage in the show, the subtext is quite different.
"My God, the love in this play," says Stolz. "The love we expect and demand versus the love we deserve. There is so much love and loyalty in this play and the way the many faces of it are presented, whether it's going to the ends of the earth for the people you love or destroying them. "
Actor T. Kyle Smiley has the difficult task of playing one of Shakespeare's most iconic characters, the tempestuous, raging King Lear. He says that one of the most daunting challenges is taking on "the wild swing in emotions Lear experiences in his old age or the constant shouting and power plays he attempts to keep his sovereignty intact.
"I find it harder and harder to discern what is a glimmer of sanity and what is pure madness for the king himself."
Actor Kelsi Heim, in the role of Lear's daughter, Goneril, has previously played supernatural characters in TCM productions. "Witches, fairies, and other non-human characters in Shakespeare plays tend to be inherently mischievous for the sake of mischief itself," she notes. "It's been more of a challenge playing an actual human being with more specific objectives, desires and motives."
The Crude Mechanicals was formed three years ago by a group of actors living in Fayetteville. Stolz, now a graduate student at the University of Alabama, says that, since then, many of the original company members have moved away from the area -- like Stolz, primarily for school -- but creating theater on their vacations and holidays is still a priority.
"Other members are in school in New York and, soon, Los Angeles," he says. "A college winter break is usually a month or so, which is the span of time we typically produce our shows anyway. Granted, it does seem and feel kind of crazy to take this time we have away from school ... and throw ourselves into a self-produced production, but it honestly doesn't feel like a question to us anymore. Our core company of actors have grown to be a hodge-podge family, and, a lot of us, though living near each other, don't see each other unless we are doing a show."
The company performs Shakespeare's lighter fare at Gulley Park during the summers -- including "A Midsummer Night's Dream" in July. Stolz says that the darker tragedies feel more at home in the winter time.
Despite its darkness, Stolz says "Lear" concludes on a brighter note.
"The play, it should be noted, ends with hope," he says. "We go through an extreme roller coaster, and we make it out on the other side.
"Here's hoping the real world does, too."
NAN What's Up on 12/30/2016