The Shadow King

Overview

In a terrifying trailer for The Shadow King, Tom E. Lewis is hunted like an animal by a four-wheel-drive; its spotlights piercing the night. Just as the trailer draws upon the imagery of classic Australian cinema, this massive undertaking from Lewis and director Michael Kantor translates the story of Shakespeare’s King Lear into a theatrical retelling of Indigenous experience.

A brief documentary on the background and process for the project sees Kantor outline how the framework of Shakespeare’s tragedy has shifted in their adaptation. “For millennia people have lived and existed with the land and on the land without claiming to own the land,” he says. “This story is about a man who believes he can own land, and therefore divides it, and give it to his three daughters.” The work will be performed in a combination of English, Kriol, and the performers’ own languages. “We’re taking Shakespeare’s story; not his words,” Kantor says.

The ambition of the play and the scale of the production itself — with a large cast of Indigenous performers, as well as musician Bart Willoughby (Yothu Yindi) — makes this a difficult piece to overlook in the Melbourne Festival and beyond; it’s also set for seasons in Perth, Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane.