LEAR’S SHADOW
Written by Geoff Hoyle
Developed with & Directed by David Ford
Costume by Beaver Bauer
April 30 – June 18, 2016 | Berkeley
Thursdays at 7:30pm | Saturdays at 5pm
Join us for a Marsh Benefit Night on June 18!
“Hoyle is not just a brilliant clown, whose multiple skills seem sharper with every new show. He is also a deeply empathetic dramatic actor who can rustle up a shaky querulous old Lear…that might break your heart. Sublime! An astonishing tour de force. Brilliant.” — SF Examiner
“You will be roundly entertained. Hoyle has skillfully woven Shakespeare’s text into his own treatment of the Fool, giving Lear’s Shadow the kind of depth one might not normally expect to find in a monologue.” — My Cultural Land
“The best solo show we’ve seen in a long time… The man is bloody good.” –– SF Theater Blog
“Hoyle inhabits multiple characters, things and the weather with his customary wizardry of physical and vocal transformations…lushly woven scenes, shot through with golden threads…breath-stopping.” — SF Chronicle
“Hoyle is a marvelous performer, and his delivery of actual speeches from Lear is stunning.” — KQED
“Hoyle has skillfully woven Shakespeare’s text into his own treatment of the Fool, giving Lear’s Shadow the kind of depth one might not normally expect to find in a monologue.” –Talkin’ Broadway
It may be unheard of for a great clown to tackle Shakespeare’s masterpiece, but audiences are experiencing King Lear like never before as the Jester (played by Hoyle), recently unemployed, tells his side of Shakespeare’s most tragic, cosmic, and human of stories in this poignant solo performance. Let one of the Bay Area’s theatrical legends tickle your funny bone and break your heart as he simultaneously depicts The Fool, the King and all three of his daughters, playing his own original music with a storm of vocal sound effects.
Artist Biography
Geoff Hoyle trained with Etienne Decroux in Paris, developing his unique bravura comic style, a combination of court jester, vaudevillian and English music hall comedian. He made his mark in the Bay Area as the Pickle Family Circus’ beloved clown, Mr. Sniff. Later, he created the critically acclaimed Feast of Fools, featuring masked Commedia Dell’Arte characters including the libidinous and elderly Pantalone (Hoyle claims he will no longer need to use a mask for this one), Il Dottore and the prat-falling Arlecchino. His award-winning shows The Convict’s Return, Geni(us) and The First Hundred Years have been seen in San Francisco, Paris, London, Berlin, Taiwan, New York, England, Russia and Latvia.
Regional theatre appearances include Seattle Repertory Theatre, ACT, La Jolla Playhouse and Berkeley Rep appearing in, among others, Volpone, The Alchemist, The Beaux Stratagem, Endgame and Act Without Words. He created the original Zazu in the Broadway cast of The Lion King and appeared off-Broadway in Bill Irwin’s Mr. Fox and in Tony Kushner’s and Maurice Sendak’s adaptation of the children’s opera Brundibar. He recently appeared in Scapin at ACT and Lemony Snicket’s The Composer is Dead at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre. He also appears regularly with Teatro Zinzanni.