King Lear

by William ShakespeareThe Utah Shakespeare Festival 2015

Director: Sharon Ott
Scenic Design: Vicki Smith
Costume Design: Rachel Laritz
Lighting Design: Donna Ruzika
Sound Design/Composition: Joe Payne

Inspired by Game of Thrones and Sigur Ros, this production definitely had a modern edge and rugged feel.  Powerful performances and direction that challenged and lifted the entire team, made me very proud of this one. 

Review: Utah Shakespeare Festival’s ‘King Lear’ is Full of Sound and Fury. Vicki Smith’s bare-bones set — consisting of just a few rocks and a single tree — is filled in by Donna Ruzika’s atmospheric, flexible lighting, punctuated by torches, and Joe Payne’s rich sound design with its natural and unnatural noises and regal music. Rachel Laritz’s costumes are grounded in workaday fabrics and earthen tones. “King Lear” is one of Shakespeare’s most complex and challenging plays, but this production makes it both accessible and emotionally powerful. And the dramatic images it creates are stunning. -Barbara M. Bannon The Salt Lake Tribune

Playshakespeare.com 2015 Falstaff Awards: Nominated for Best Sound Design/Original score.

Music and Effects Collage:

Sequences from the play, including transitions, the storm, the blinding of Gloucester, and the war.

Click here to listen to more clips and to purchase this score.

Included in World Stage Design 2017 International Design Exhibition, Taipei, Taiwan. 

Video compilation presented at WSD 2017:

_{Photos by Karl Hugh, Album Art by Joe Payne}