Théâtre -Le Roi Lear

With a flamboyant wig, a plaid kilt, a gray cloak, and bare-chested, King Lear asks his question: “Which of you can say that she loves me the most?” The story is well known; his three daughters’ answers will hasten his downfall—and that of his family and his kingdom. For the darkest of Shakespeare’s plays stops at nothing—not betrayal, not murder, not even madness. In this glamorous, rock-infused, and lavish production, Mathieu Coblentz embraces excess, ostentatiously flirting with the baroque: a fresh and incisive translation, seven performers masterfully embodying—and setting to music— human excesses committed to seize power, all set against costumes as exuberant as the dark and stripped-down set design. Despite the tragedy, farce is never far away. Nor is emotion.

Recommended for ages 13 and up.

Every adaptation of William Shakespeare has its secrets. Agathe Bosch, a teacher at the Saint-Brieuc Conservatory, is organizing a meet-and-greet with the show’s director, Mathieu Coblentz, on Tuesday, January 26, from 6:30 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. at the Petit Théâtre. Free admission.