The drama's been both onstage and off in the lead up to the Fortune Theatre's season of Shakespeare's King Lear.

With the actor cast to play Lear in hospital and only two weeks to opening night, director David Lawrence turned to veteran film and theatre actor Mick Rose. "He's the only actor I know with the skill and guts to take on Lear within the timeframe we had."The drama's been both onstage and off in the lead up to the Fortune Theatre's season of Shakespeare's King Lear.

With the actor cast to play Lear in hospital and only two weeks to opening night, director David Lawrence turned to veteran film and theatre actor Mick Rose. "He's the only actor I know with the skill and guts to take on Lear within the timeframe we had.""There has been an upside to not getting our Lear too early - King Lear is an astonishing text, and we've found so much in it that we couldn't have if we'd just been focused on the title role," says Lawrence.

Rose is no stranger to King Lear - his illustrious career began with his playing Lear in the 1988 Victoria University Summer Shakespeare, and he took on the role again in 1997.

Mick joins Erin Banks (Cordelia), Jacqueline Nairn (Regan), Amy Tarleton (Goneril), Bruce Phillips (the Earl of Gloucester), Malcolm Murray (the Earl of Kent), Alex Greig (Edmund), Sam Snedden (Edgar), Salesi Le'ota (Oswald), Phil Grieve (the Duke of Albany), Alistair Browning (the Duke of Cornwall), and David Goldthorpe (Curan).

King Lear is an astonishing study of the human condition. As the play commences, Lear's kingdom is carefully ordered. But as his mind crumbles, the entire realm becomes bestial, revealing the savage in many and the saint in few.

Dunedin performances

When: 10 August - 1 September 2007, 7pm
Where: Fortune Theatre
Bookings: 03 477 8323 or e-mail boxoffice@fortunetheatre.co.nz

Wellington performances

When: 1-5 August 2007, 7pm
Where: Te Whaea, 11 Hutchison Road, Newtown, Wellington

26/7/07