King Lear - Bard in the Yard Summer Shakespeare

A two-hour adaptation of Shakespeare's masterpiece - a storm of raw emotion, family dynamics, and poetic chaos.

This summer, Eastbourne’s prize-winning Butterfly Creek Theatre Troupe proudly celebrates its 30th year of Shakespeare with a strikingly contemporary production of King Lear.

In this two-hour adaptation the tragedy is sharpened to its core: the fraught family dynamics of Lear and Gloucester, two parents whose misguided choices unleash betrayal and heartbreak. Lear’s reckless division of his kingdom and Gloucester’s misplaced trust in her children reveal how pride and blindness can devastate generations.

Performed as the sun sets on a summer evening—with the adjacent school hall ready should the weather turn—this production offers a fresh perspective on parental folly, loyalty, and love, making Shakespeare’s timeless themes resonate anew.

The show will be presented to a seated audience in the school courtyard. It can get chilly so wrap warmly but it will move indoors in poor weather. There is a bar (cash or Eftpos). Parking in the school grounds accessible from Oroua Street.

Warning: The play contains graphic violence.

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