William Shakespeare’s “King Lear” will hit the big screen on Sunday, May 10 at 2 p.m. in the Carleton College Weitz Center for Creativity Cinema. The screening is of the 2014 production at the renowned Stratford Festival in Canada, starring celebrated classical actor Colm Feore as the mad king and directed by the company’s artistic director, Antoni Cimolino. This event is free and open to the public.
Recorded in high-definition, the film is the first in a massive initiative by the Stratford Festival to film and broadcast all of Shakespeare’s plays over the next ten years. “King Lear” originally premiered on 350 movie screens across the United States in February 2015. The Stratford Festival plans to release three or four new films each year as part of an almost $40 million effort.
The attempt to bring the complete works of William Shakespeare to audiences around the world is the first by a North American arts organization and the dream of artistic director Cimolino.
"For the almost 400 million people that live on this continent, and for young people especially, hearing the language spoken the way they speak it is very important because then you realize that Shakespeare is not foreign," Cimolino says. "He belongs to all of us. It's our birthright."
The live cinema event company BY Experience is helping distribute The Bard's canon. Julie Borchard-Young, who runs BY Experience with her husband, Robert, said theater-goers will now be able to sample great Shakespeare productions without having to cross the Canadian border.
"It's not really realistic to expect audiences be able to visit in person at all times so this is a really great way for Stratford to reach them where they are," she said. "We hope the Stratford series will really excite viewers across the U.S. and they'll support it and it will have a chance to grow."
The Stratford Festival is an internationally recognized annual celebration of theater running from April to October in the Canadian city of Stratford, Ontario. Many of the greatest Canadian, British, and American actors perform, and it is considered to be one of the most prominent arts festivals in Canada. Although the festival primarily produces works by William Shakespeare, it also presents a variety of theater from Greek tragedy to contemporary works. More at www.stratfordfestival.ca.
This event is sponsored by the Carleton College Department of English. For more information, including disability accommodations, call (507) 222-4322. The Weitz Center for Creativity is located at Third and College Streets in Northfield.
