King Lear
City Theatre Brno - Mestske Divadlo Brno (Czech Republic)
Opening: 14.11.2015
Drama by William Shakespeare
Director: Stanislav Moša
SHAKESPEARE’S KING LEAR AT THE CITY THEATRE BRNO
(...) Part of the large and high stage design is inspired by the perspective gimmicks of the Dutch artist Maurits Cornelis Escher and his typical infinitely winding staircases. The large, mighty castle on stage seems oppressive, impersonal and looks as if it has been cast out of concrete. The stage design by Christoph Weyers sometimes diverges in the middle up to the portals, for example when the mad king finds himself in the storm in the middle of the heath, and thus frees up the space to play on a completely empty stage. It is a beautiful contrast that underpins the forlornness of the protagonists and their impending doom. (…)
Luboš Mareček, ČRo3 Vltava, 20.11 2015
KING LEAR OR ON THE ABSURDITY OF INGRATITUDE
A king in jeans, castles made of concrete, an almost half-naked dancer at the beginning and end, and a concert by three lunatics – that is a brief outline of the new production of the Brno City Theatre, to which the audience is flocking in droves. (...) The concrete castles in the stage set created by Christoph Weyers are criss-crossed by absurdly winding staircases that lead to nowhere and thereby reflect the absurdity of the plot. (...)
Vratislav Mlčoch, www.babocka.vram.cz, 23.11.2015
KING LEAR AT THE BRNO CITY THEATRE
(...) Director Stanislav Moša has chosen a stage design by Christoph Weyers, where real staircases are transformed into optical illusions of paradoxical spatiality. The steps actually lead nowhere. This already reveals a lot about the construction of the drama in which the spectator is fatefully caught. (…)
Peter Stoličný, www.i-divadlo.cz, 17.11.2015
IN THE COLD OF CONCRETE
Christoph Weyers' concrete stage set is dominated by a cold concrete throne, muted colours and countless staircases, which are, however, only minimally used in the production. They serve rather to express a symbolic destiny, symbolising the monarch’s fall from his warm place in the sun to the cold earth. No frills, just bare cold concrete, plus the careful lighting of the scene, works with emotions that gradually come to a head along with the action.
Kateřina Šebelová, www.epochtimes.cz, 22.11.2015