A moving and darkly comic remix of Shakespeare’s play told from the point of view of Joy, a person with dementia, who is living in an old memory of rehearsing ‘King Lear’. Joy’s delicately maintained reality is upended by the arrival of her estranged son who, being cast as Cordelia, must find a way to speak his piece from within the limited role he’s given.

Using puppetry, projection and live video effects, the audience are landed in Joy’s world as layers of her past and present, fiction and reality, overlap and distort.

‘Lost Lear’ is a thought provoking meditation on theatre, artifice and the possibility of communicating across the chasms between us.

Play text available from Methuen Drama

Reviews & Awards

Winner of Scotsman Fringe First Award 2025

Irish Times Theatre Awards nominee:
– “Best New Play”
– “Audience Choice”
– “Best Supporting Actor”
– “Best Video Design”

‘Devastating stuff, deftly done…Colley is a theatre maker of remarkable imagination and insight’ – The Stage ★★★★★

'Stingingly insightful, invigorating our thinking about a familiar text and contemporising its world of cognitive loss and parental dereliction' - The Telegraph ★★★★★

'An astonishing piece of theatre' - Financial Times ★★★★★

'Colley's Lost Lear is a theatrical tour de force that bravely visits painful places to tenderly illuminate them' - The Arts Review ★★★★★

'Brilliantly conceived and executed... remarkable achievement' - The Examiner ★★★★★

'Flawless' - British Theatre Guide ★★★★★

'The most brilliant creative twist' - Edinburgh Festivals Mag ★★★★★

'Absorbing… Bowe gives a remarkable performance' - Irish Mail on Sunday ★★★★★

'Wonderful, insightful theatre' - Three Weeks Edinburgh ★★★★★

'Staggeringly empathetic' - LondonTheatre ★★★★★

'This is a production that resists tidy catharsis – rightly so – but the emotional clarity never blurs. What remains is pathos without mawkishness, intelligence without chill, and a hard, resilient sort of hope' - Broadway Baby ★★★★★

'Astounding… richly-layered' - WhatsOnStage ★★★★★

'Lost Lear is a supremely powerful piece of work that weaves and unravels the most extraordinary of scenarios. A shadowing curtain provides a divide between truth and expression and, when you watch it draw for the final time, you will be very glad you did' - EdFestMag ★★★★★

'Pure genius' - Binge Fringe ★★★★★

'Delivers a forceful punch in the gut'-The Arts Desk ★★★★★

'A deeply accomplished and moving piece of work' - Across the Arts ★★★★★

‘astonishing…. as moving as it is mind-blowing.’ - The Skinny ★★★★★

'Profound' - Corr Blimey ★★★★★

'A clever, multi-faceted drama' - Bouquets & Brickbats ★★★★★

‘A must see' - Broadway Ben ★★★★★

'Inventive' - Mickey Jo Theatre ★★★★★

'Heartbreaking' - Counter Culture ★★★★★

'A wonderfully unexpected experience' - The Scotsman ★★★★

'As intelligent as it is moving' - The Times ★★★★

'(A) fascinating contemporary remix' - Lyn Gardner ★★★★

'A crisp, fresh reinterpretation' - Fest ★★★★

'Profoundly human' - All Edinburgh Theatre ★★★★

“Quite extraordinary…an absolute must see.” – Radio New Zealand

Cast

Venetia Bowe

Peter Daly

Manus Halligan

Clodagh O’Farrell

Em Ormonde

Written by Dan Colley, with the company, after Shakespeare

Music by Daniel McAuley

Directed by Dan Colley

Produced by Matthew Smyth

Set Design Andrew Clancy

Lighting Design Suzie Cummins

Costume Design Cherie White

Sound Design Kevin Gleeson

Video Design Ross Ryder

Dramaturgy Gavin Kostick

Assistant Direction Joy Nesbitt

Stage Manager Evie McGuinness

Assistant Stage Manager Sarah Purcell

Chief LX Adrian Moylan

Chief AV Laura Rainsford

Production Manager Eoin Kilkenny

Graphic Designer Sarah Moloney

Lead image Photographer Pato Cassinoni

Production Photographer Ste Murray

Production

Lost Lear was co-produced by Riverbank Arts Centre and Mermaid Arts Centre. Funded by the Arts Council | An Chomhairle Ealaíon and supported by Fishamble: The New Play Company’s New Play Clinic and Abbey Theatre’s ENGINE ROOM

2022
Riverbank Arts Centre, Newbridge (preview)
Dublin Theatre Festival, Project Arts Centre (premiere)
Mermaid Arts Centre, Bray

2023
Riverbank Arts Centre, Newbridge
The Everyman Theatre, Cork
Westival, Westport
The Town Hall Theatre, Galway
Project Arts Centre, Dublin
The Hawkswell, Sligo
The Ramor, Cavan
Mermaid Arts Centre, Bray
Draíocht Arts Centre, Blanchardstown
The Civic Theatre, Tallaght

2024
Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of the Arts, Wellington (Australasian Premiere)

2025

Mullen Center for Performing Arts, Villanova University, PA (US Premiere)
Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Edinburgh Festival Fringe (UK Premiere)