Publisher's Synopsis
Shakespeare with Noodles is a program designed to be young people's first introduction to Shakespeare. Costumes and prop pieces are constructed from swimming noodles. Utilizing melodrama and slap stick comedy, our shows are fast paced. The Tragedy of King Lear has been broken into two plays. King Lear: Part 1 and King Lear's Backside. Part 1 has a playing time of one hour, King Lear's Backside is 50 minutes. With its beautifully interwoven plots of familial discord, the story of Lear is worth devoting two seasons to. The Fool's epilogue in Part 1, creates a transition between the two plays. Should you choose to perform the two plays together as one full production, omit the epilogue. The script has been edited with performance continuity in mind. Lines sometimes are distributed to characters who do not say them in the original. As much as possible, capitalization and punctuation reflect line breaks from the full script although the text has been condensed into paragraphs to save space. Our scripts are also tailored to incorporate girls into traditionally male roles. The genders used reflect the actors who played them in our production. Should you prefer to present a more traditional approach, this series easily accommodates this. In Part 1, King Lear decides to split his kingdom between his three daughters according to which one loves him best. When the youngest of the three refuses to play her father's game she is exiled and Lear will find himself abandoned and out in the cold. Family discord spreads and engulf the Earl of Gloucester, who will be blinded for taking Lear in.
