Dan Colley Lost Lear
10/16(Fri)19:3010/17(Sat)14:3010/18(Sun)14:30
“It is devastating stuff, deftly done.”The Stage
“Colley's Lost Lear is a theatrical tour de force that bravely visits painful places to tenderly illuminate them.”The Arts Review
“Absorbing…Venetia Bowe gives a remarkable performance.”Irish mail on Sunday
“You don't have to know Shakespeare's greatest tragedy to enjoy this multi-layered piece.”Three Weeks
Within the prison of memory, dancing with the fading embers of the past
Following its premiere at the 2022 Dublin Theatre Festival, Lost Lear has captivated audiences worldwide and received the prestigious Scotsman Fringe First Award at the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Profoundly moving and emotionally resonant, this theatrical masterpiece speaks powerfully even to audiences unfamiliar with Shakespeare.
Once a luminous stage actress, Joy now lives in a care facility as her memories slowly fade, her reality becoming inseparable from the world of Shakespeare’s King Lear. Around her, caregivers sustain an endless theatrical rehearsal, carefully staging daily life in an attempt to keep her emotionally grounded. But this fragile equilibrium is disrupted by the arrival of her estranged son, Conor. Within the confines of scripted exchanges and fractured conversations, mother and son struggle to find a way back to one another.
Following the international acclaim of his stage adaptation of Gabriel García Márquez’s A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings, Irish theater-maker Dan Colley turns to Shakespeare, deconstructing and reassembling King Lear into a haunting reflection on dementia and the fragile architecture of identity. Lear’s anguished question, “Who is it that can tell me who I am?”, becomes the emotional fault line running through the work.
Blending projection, puppetry, and live video effects, the production draws audiences into Joy’s disoriented inner world, where past and present, performance and life, fiction and reality continually overlap, distort, and dissolve into one another. Darkly comic yet profoundly tender, Lost Lear unfolds as a theatrical meditation on memory and the blurred boundaries between illusion and reality, while exploring the painful, fragile possibility of communication across the vast distances between human hearts.
Dan Colley
Playwright & Director
Lost Lear - Photo by Ste Murray
Lost Lear - Photo by Ste Murray
Lost Lear - Photo by Ste Murray
Playwright & Director／Dan Colley
Producer／Matt Smyth
Stage Design／Andrew Clancy
Lighting Design／Suzie Cummins
Sound Design／Kevin Gleeson
Composer／Daniel McAuley
Costume Design／Cherie White
Video Design／Ross Ryder
Dramaturge／Gavin Kostick
Performer／Venetia Bowe, Peter Daly, Rowan Finken, Clodagh O’Farrell, Ella O’Callaghan
Tour Director／Ursula McGinn
Chief LX／Archer Bradshaw
Chief AV／Laura Rainsford
Head of Sound／John Norton
Technical Manager／Eoin Kilkenny
Stage Manager／Iain Synnott
Photographer／Ste Murray
Produced by Riverbank Arts Centre and Mermaid Arts Centre
Funded by Culture Ireland, the Arts Council of Ireland
Supported by Fishamble’s New Play Clinic
Dan Colley Lost Lear
Theater
Approx. 80 minutes without intermission.
700/900/1300/1500
National Taichung Theater
Funded by Culture Ireland, the Arts Council of Ireland
Designated accommodation
NTT Member pre-order from 4th August
Tickets available from 18th August
Member Pre-order Discount
From 4th to 18th August, 25% off regular ticket price for NTT Members.
No limits on price categories and amount of tickets.
Other Discounts
10% - 25% off for NTT membership holders
10% off for National Theater and Concert Hall, National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying) and National Symphony Orchestra membership holders
10% off for CTBC Bank, E.SUN Commercial Bank and Taishin International Bank, Bank SinoPac, Taipei Fubon Bank and Yuanta Commercial Bank credit card holders.
50% off for disabled persons plus one companion, and senior citizens 65 or above (ID required at entrance)
25% off group ticket price for groups of 20 or more per program
●Only one discount may apply per purchase
●Tickets purchased as a ticket package can not be individually returned or exchanged
※Approx. 80 minutes without intermission.
※Suggested for ages 7 and above.
※Latecomers will not be admitted.
※Please be punctual. For certain programs, latecomers or those who leave mid-performance will not be admitted. We regret that refunds or exchanges are not available under these circumstances.
※Returns and exchanges must be made at least 1 day before the performance and are subject to a handling fee.
※NTT reserves the right to make changes to the program. Any changes will be announced on the official website.