Texas Shakespeare Festival in Kilgore presents ‘Lear’ with no king

KILGORE, Texas (KLTV) - People know it as “King Lear,” but at the Texas Shakespeare Festival held at Kilgore College this month, the play is just called “Lear.” But why?

Texas Shakespeare Festival Director Meaghan Simpson took a few pictures of actor Sasha Hildebrand backstage at Van Cliburn Auditorium at Kilgore College on Saturday. Sasha has the lead in “King Lear,” although it’s pretty obvious she’s not playing the king.

The title has been changed because this version doesn’t have a king.

“That’s right. It’s a queen. We have a queen, and we thought it would be a little bit funny to change the title to ‘Queen Lear,’ so rather we just cut off the king, and we’re calling it ‘Lear,’” Simpson said.

That makes Hildebrand the matriarch rather than the patriarch.

“Correct, yes. Definitely the mother of all mothers,” Hildebrand said.

The production has a good reason for this adjustment.

“You know, Sasha is an amazing actor, and she’s been with us for, I think, six seasons,” Simpson said. “And, when you have somebody like Sasha, you start to look for plays that will suit the people you have.”

Hildebrand said Shakespeare has a lot of male-centered roles, in particular in dramatic plays.

“You have your traditional Lady Macbeths and Juliette, but for an older woman, it’s a little bit more difficult to be the center of the story in Shakespeare’s tragedies,” Hildebrand said.

She thinks a woman’s take on the role is very interesting.

“I think actually it works almost better in the sense of that relationship between daughter and mother, and the betrayal one feels when children go against them,” Hildebrand said.

Hildebrand said she’s acted in many plays around the country, but this one stands out.

“This is probably the biggest thing I’ve ever done, by far, definitely within Shakespeare,” Hildebrand said.

And as far as her influence on the choice of material, the crew said the role was tailor-made.

“We actually selected the play with Sasha in mind,” Simpson said.

So, the “Lear” line, “How sharper than a serpent’s tooth to have a thankless child?” doesn’t really apply to Simpson and Hildebrand’s relationship.

If you’d like to see a longer interview with Simpson and Hildebrand, you can find a video below.

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