Few things test familial ties like the death of a matriarch or patriarch; some band together while others fall apart around tensions concerning inheritance. Rivalries and cruelties of epic proportions are captured in King Lear as siblings struggle for power, when the tragic tale comes to The Q – Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre on 29 November–3 December.

The family tensions and fallout occur while the head of the family is still alive in this classic Shakespearean text. King Lear, or Queen Lear in this rendition, is ageing, deteriorating, and tired of the role when they decide to abdicate.

“What they don’t recognise is that in resigning, they relinquish their status. This is someone no one has said no to and who makes some catastrophic errors that end up in a cataclysmic civil war of the worst kind,” says Karen Vickery, who plays King Lear.

Dividing their kingdom between their daughters, Goneril and Regan, leaving the favourite daughter, Cordelia, with nothing, is just the start of the family’s downfall.

“Even at the beginning, you can tell they aren’t very nice people, they’re in it for themselves and their husbands. They’re delighted that they have this power, but their aggression and maliciousness is slowly revealed throughout the play,” says Nathasha Vickery, (Karen’s daughter in real life and on stage) who plays Regan.

Relating the classic tale to modern-day power families, Karen says it showcases how extraordinary power can easily corrupt people, particularly when there is wealth, or a prominent position a person feels they have been preparing for or over which they may have to fight siblings.

“It brings out something very nasty in people … I think it also shines a light on how we treat the older generation,” says Natasha.

“When you feel that old people are losing their grip while still in power, the kind of jockeying that goes on behind the scenes. They’re all there, present in the play,” agrees Karen.

Switching the titular character from a male role to a female, an exciting move from director Joel Horwood, portrays Lear in a new light.

“There’s a way in which certain kinds of irascibility and certain behaviours we come to sort of tolerate in powerful men of a certain age, I think when it’s played by a woman of a certain age, it is seen for what it is,” says Karen. “It is quite unforgiving.”

The choice also changes the dynamics between parent and child. According to Natasha, the relationship between a father and daughter and mother and daughter is generally quite different.

“I think there’s also a certain kind of playfulness a lot of daughters have with their father that doesn’t translate into the mother-daughter relationship,” says Natasha.

Karen says that some of the titular character’s statements are misogynistic coming from a man but when uttered by a woman become something more vicious. Comments that are cruel from a father translate as more personal when delivered by a mother.

“There’s a famous sequence between Lear and Goneril which is absolutely disgusting, where Lear is so angry with Goneril that she wishes her to be sterile. It’s so personal woman to woman, there’s no way you can dismiss it,” says Karen.

Luckily for real life mother and daughter duo, Karen and Natasha, their relationship doesn’t mirror the Lear family. Having worked together a number of times, not always in familial roles, the pair know each other backwards which makes collaborating smooth.

“Those intimacies make playing with our characters really fun and perhaps bring out a lot of dynamics that we might not have discovered otherwise. I can already see some of the choices that we’re making, it is very playful,” smiles Natasha.

“We shortcut, even if you know people quite well, when you find yourselves playing a family, there’s a whole lot of learning that has to go on through the process of rehearsal,” says Karen.

In a short season of just six performances, the production aims to make the classic work accessible but also highlight the characters and their motivations, which is again is heightened by the gender switch.  

“It is making something that you are familiar with from the play itself and from the tradition of performance, putting it in another light and you see more clearly … That’s my feeling about it in playing the role because there’s some very tough things to say and do,” says Karen.

While the role of Lear is a mountain to climb, Karen says she has found herself coming back to the fact that the story is a simple one: a story of power and the onus we put on it. She wants the audience to take the time to consider what power really is when watching the play.

“My favourite line in the play is ‘A dog’s obeyed in office’. I want them to take that … For me it’s the most profound message about dealing with power, speaking truth to power despite the dangers and the fragility of power. It is something we create and support as a society, it is meaningless,” says Karen.

See King Lear at The Q – Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre, 29 November–3 December; theq.net.au

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