Local theatre troupe The Crude Mechanicals are up to their old tricks again.
By “old tricks,” we mean “working hard to perform classic Shakespeare plays for the community for free.” Tricksters.
This time, the group will perform the bard’s classic tragedy King Lear Jan. 5-8 at Clapp Auditorium on Mount Sequoyah.
It’s the third season of performances for the Crude Mechanicals. The company was formed in 2014 by a group of current students and recent theatre graduates who have scattered around the country for college, but who enjoy performing in their spare time. The players have also performed Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest, Twelfth Night, Macbeth, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream in recent years.
After performing Macbeth last winter, the troupe decided to continue to explore some of Shakespeare’s darker works, which led them to King Lear this time around.
“Focusing on the conflict of nature as it is born into people, and the love that we give out as we live, the production will explore what it is about love and our loyalty to the people in our lives that drive us to go to the extremes that we so often do,” co-founder Zach Stolz said in a press release issued this week.
The show is also the largest The Crude Mechanicals have ever attempted, with the biggest cast to date.
Performances are scheduled each evening from Thursday, Jan. 5 through Sunday, Jan. 8. The shows will begin at 7:30 p.m.
All of the performances are free, and open to the public. For more information, visit The Crude Mechanicals on Facebook.
