Scottish reimagining of iconic Shakespeare play by deaf actor and writer to be performed

The play is based on William Shakespeare’s iconic work, King Lear

A Scottish contemporary reimagining of an iconic Shakespearean play by a deaf writer and actor is to be performed at a major international arts festival.

Lear, by Glasgow production company Raw Materials and National Theatre of Scotland, is both written and performed by Scottish-Singaporean theatre maker Ramesh Meyyappan, alongside three other cast members.

The play, based on Shakespearean classic King Lear, will have minimal dialogue and a visually stimulating approach. It will be premiered at the Singapore International Festival of Arts in May, which commissioned the work, before touring Scotland.

In his work, Mr Meyyappan, who moved to Scotland in 2006, has said he tried to create a “shared visual language” that could be understood by both the deaf and hearing community, while raising awareness of deaf performers and directors.

He told The Scotsman: “I am excited to be creating and developing this new piece of work commissioned by Singapore International Festival of Arts to both Singapore where I grew up and to my adopted home here in Scotland. Lear is not my first venture into Shakespearian territory, but feels like my biggest challenge yet.

“There are challenges when you try to ‘reimagine’ and present any of Shakespeare’s works. Shakespeare purists can be super critical and love the richness of his language. A huge challenge for me and director Orla O’Loughlin is to convince the ‘purists’ that the visual language used in what we do tells the stories equally as eloquently, but with the creative team that has been put together by producers, Raw Material, I’m confident we can achieve this.”

Mr Meyyappan added: “I hope that audiences don’t just identify with the themes and characters found in Shakespeare’s King Lear, but also see in this re-imagining a struggling father who has lost his sense of who he is, lost control of his life as he struggles with the knowledge that he can no longer be the father he once was”.

Solo performances and collaborations by Mr Meyyappan have toured nationally and internationally to much critical acclaim. He was nominated for a Total Theatre Award for his previous work, Snails and Ketchup, and a Critic Award Theatre Scotland in the Best Male Performance category for Off Kilter.

Lear, which explores universal themes of escalating madness, loss of power, betrayal and trust, is directed by Ms O’Loughlin, former artistic director of the Traverse Theatre.

Lear is a new reimagining of the iconic King Lear play by William Shakespeare. | Niall Walker

Mr Meyyappan is involved in the programme design team for the BA Performance in British Sign Language and English at the Royal Conservatoire Scotland in Glasgow where he teaches the visual theatre module.

Ms O’Loughlin’s work has won a variety of awards, including Fringe Firsts, Critics Awards for Theatre in Scotland, The Stage Awards and Writers Guild of Great Britain Awards. Her recent production of The Time Machine: A Comedy, at the Park Theatre, London, was nominated for an Olivier.

Margaret-Anne O’Donnell and Gillian Garrity, executive producers of Raw Material, said: “Ramesh is an incredible, talented visual artist and we are thrilled to continue our long-standing relationship with him in this international collaboration between Singapore and Scotland.”

They added: “This Lear will be a stripped-back version that will focus on familial relationships. Much of Ramesh’s work has elements of his lived experienced as an inspiration and while this production of Lear is a little different in that it is a reimagining of a classic text, we expect Ramesh will still be bringing elements of his own life experience to the production, exploring themes of loss of identity, isolation and grief.”

Lear will be performed on May 30 to 31 at the Lemon Tree, Aberdeen, and from June 5 to 7 at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh.