The actor, who has been playing king Lear for the past five years, in Nothing Like Lear – Rajat Kapoor’s quirky interpretation of the Shakespeare play – talks how the character impacts him
I must confess, I am not particularly fond of King Lear—a selfish and irresponsible king who can’t look through flattery and deceit, and a one-man manual to how not to parent. So it is surprising that I would drag myself to a play where this man-child is given the whole stage to fool around for 90 whole minutes. But I did. And I did it thrice.
Vinay Pathak plays king Lear in Cinematograph Production’s solo play, Nothing Like Lear(Aalok Soni)
The twin Lear
Rajat had originally envisioned Atul Kumar as Lear but Vinay threw such a fit that he had to let his old friend and fellow comrade to be part of Nothing Like Lear. So the play started with Atul and Vinay doing alternate shows of the play
What’s in the name?
The very title of the play, Nothing Like Lear, is probably an acknowledgment and a shout out to Shakespeare as one is reminded of one of the most crucial moments in the play when Lear says: Nothing will come of nothing…when Cordelia says she has no words to describe her love for her father and sets the ball rolling for all the future events.
It is the father-daughter relationship in the story of King Lear that has always resonated with Vinay Pathak (Aalok Soni)
Not Shakespeare’s original either!
The story of King Lear and his three daughters is an old tale was well known in England for centuries. In fact, it first finds mention in the History of the Kings of Britain, written by Geoffrey Monmouth in 1135. Thereafter, many poets and playwrights, including Holinshed, have written their own versions of it. The story even finds a mention in Edmund Spenser’s Faerie Queen (1590). However, for his version which he wrote in 1605, Shakespeare might have relied on an anonymously written play titled The True Chronicle History of King Leir that was performed during the 1590s at the Rose Theatre.
Rajat Kapoor debuted his adaptation of King Lear five years back with Vinay Pathak and Atul Kumar playing Lear in alternate shows. The play is in half English and half gibberish (File photo)
