OCT 26 – DEC 15
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A powerful staging of the classic tragedy

PRESENTED BY KBTC, THE SHED, AND FIERY ANGEL

Tickets

Tickets are on sale now. View the seat map.

Ticket orders are limited to six tickets, maximum. For larger groups, please email info@theshed.org or call us at (646) 455-3494.

Under 30 Tickets

Guests under 30 years old may purchase up to two tickets at the front of the theater at $25 each. Both ticket buyers and their guests must be under the age of 30. These orders will be held for pick up at the box office in the lobby starting one hour prior to curtain. Valid photo IDs listing proof of age must be presented to pick up all ticket(s). Failure to show proof of age will result in a $200 surcharge per ticket.

About this program

Kenneth Branagh plays the title role in a new production of William Shakespeare’s King Lear, set in the barbarous landscape of Ancient Britain. Featuring a cast of rising stars from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art co-directed by Rob Ashford, Branagh, and Lucy Skilbeck, this production releases the play’s power and turmoil in a fast-paced staging.

In playing Lear, Branagh completes a trifecta of great Shakespearean tragic roles, complementing past appearances as Hamlet in his Academy Award–nominated film version of the play (1996) and on stage as Macbeth in a celebrated immersive production (2014). This strictly limited, exclusive US engagement of King Lear runs for 50 performances only.

Cast

A headshot of actor Mara Allen, who looks directly at us. Mara has brown skin and wears a white tank top.
Mara Allen
A headshot of actor Deborah Alli, who turns her head to look directly at us. Deborah is Black with dark brown skin and curly black hair. She wears a white tank top.
Deborah Alli
A headshot of actor Raymond Anum, who looks directly at us. Raymond has dark brown skin and wears a zip up sweater zipped to the base of his neck
Raymond Anum
A headshot of actor Melanie-Joyce Bermudez. She turns slightly toward us with one shoulder and raises an eyebrow quizzically. She wears a frilly blouse that shows her bare shoulders.
Melanie-Joyce Bermudez
A headshot of actor Kenneth Branagh, a white man with light brown hair. Kenneth looks directly at us and wears a three piece suit, without a tie.
Kenneth Branagh
A headshot of actor Doug Colling, who looks directly at us. He is white and has light brown hair that is styled to fall down over his forehead. He has blue eyes and wears a blue jacket with a stand collar.
Doug Colling
A headshot of actor Dylan Corbett-Bader, who looks directly at us with a slightly furrowed brow. He is white and has curly dark hair that falls down to the top of his cheeks.
Dylan Corbett-Bader
A headshot of actor Eleanor de Rohan, who looks directly at us. Eleanor is white with long blond hair tucked behind her ears. She wears a floral print turtle neck shirt.
Eleanor de Rohan
A headshot of actor Chloe Fenwick Brown, who looks intently at us. Chloe is white with short, dark brown hair and wears a black double breasted jacket.
Chloe Fenwick-Brown
A headshot of actor Joseph Kloska, who looks at us intently with an air of slight amusement. Joseph has white skin, dark brown hair, and a reddish brown beard. He wears a dark blue button down shirt.
Joseph Kloska
A headshot of actor Corey Mylchreest who angles his head back slightly while looking directly at us. He is white with short buzzed dark brown hair. He wears a khaki green crewneck shirt.
Corey Mylchreest
A headshot of actor Caleb Obediah, who looks directly at us with casual intensity. Caleb has dark brown skin, short hair, and wears a black crew neck tshirt.
Caleb Obediah
A headshot of actor Hughie O'Donnell, who turns his head to look directly at us. Hughie is white and has light brown curly hair and a beard. He wears a yellow tshirt.
Hughie O’Donnell
A headshot of actor Jessica Revell, who looks directly at us with head cocked to the side. Jessica is white with long dark auburn hair. She wears a gray vest.
Jessica Revell
Mara Allen
Curan
Mara Allen’s credits at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art include Romeo & Juliet, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Intimate Apparel, and Love & Money. Theater credits include The Night Watch (The Original Theatre Company), Macbeth (The Globe Theatre), Henry V (The Maltings Theatre), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (The Changeling Theatre Company), Jacaranda (The Pentabus Theatre Company), An Octoroon (The Abbey Theatre Dublin), and The Mirror Crack’d (The Original Theatre Company). Film and television credits include Romantic Getaway.
Deborah Alli
Goneril
Deborah Alli’s credits at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art include Richard II, The Gift, The Faith Machine, and The Wolves. Theater credits include Best of Enemies (Noel Coward) and School Girls; or, The African Mean Girls Play (Lyric Hammersmith).
Raymond Anum
Burgundy
Raymond Anum’s credits at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art include Romeo & Juliet, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Philistines, and Love & Money. Theater credits include The Merchant Of Venice, The Taming Of The Shrew (Shakespeare’s Globe), and Youth Without God (The Coronet Theatre). Film and television credits include Andor.
Melanie-Joyce Bermudez
Regan
Melanie-Joyce Bermudez’s credits at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art include Twelfth Night, Frankenstein, The Cherry Orchard, Company, and The Motherf*cker with a Hat. While training Bermudez completed the Open Door program and The Royal Court Writers program, and was recently awarded the Constellations Creative Bursary (BESEA) from the New Earth Theatre.
Kenneth Branagh
King Lear
Kenneth Branagh’s credits at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art include Hamlet, Commitments, No Orchids for Miss Blandish, Lady Be Good, and The White Devil. His theater credits include, as actor: Another Country, Henry V, As You Like It, Much Ado About Nothing, Look Back in Anger, Coriolanus, Hamlet, Richard III, Edmond, Ivanov, The Painkiller, Macbeth, Harlequinade, The Winter’s Tale, and The Entertainer. Television credits include The Billy Plays, Fortunes of War, Conspiracy, Shackleton, Warm Springs, Wallander, and This England. Film credits include, as actor: A Month in the Country, Othello, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Valkyrie, My Week with Marilyn, Dunkirk, Tenet, and Oppenheimer.
Doug Colling
Edgar
Doug Colling’s credits at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art include The Tempest, Journey’s End, Assassins, Broadway Bound, and Love & Information. His theater credits include Dear Evan Hansen (Noel Coward). Credits in film and television include This England, All Is True, and Kiwi Flyer.
Dylan Corbett-Bader
France
Dylan Corbett-Bader’s credits at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art include King Lear, The Seagull, Consent, and Spring Awakening. Film and television includes The Tattooist of Auschwitz, We Were The Lucky Ones, and A Haunting in Venice.
Eleanor de Rohan
Kent
Eleanor de Rohan’s credits at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art include Macbeth, Strange Orchestra, Vinegar Tom, and A Little Night Music. Theater credits include Hamlet (KBTC/RADA), The Winter’s Tale (Helicon Theatre Company), Sonder (Mimi Monteith Productions), and Much Ado About Nothing (Half Cut Theatre). Credits in film and television include Anatomy of a Scandal, Death on the Nile, All Is True, and Artemis Fowl.
Chloe Fenwick-Brown
Oswald
Chloe Fenwick-Brown’s credits at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art include The Winter’s Tale, Red Velvet, and As You Like It.
Joseph Kloska
Gloucester
Joseph Kloska’s credits at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art include Timon of Athens, Sing Your Heart Out for The Lads, Assassins, and Widows. Theater credits include Richard III (Rose Theatre and Liverpool Playhouse), The Winter’s Tale (RSC), Imperium (RSC), For Services Rendered (Chichester Festival Theatre), The Christmas Truce (RSC), Boeing Boeing (Sheffield Crucible), It Just Stopped (Orange Tree Theatre), Moby-Dick (Simple8), The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari (Simple8), Written on the Heart (RSC), Measure for Measure (Royal Shakespeare Company), The School for Scandal (Barbican Theatre/Holland Festival Amsterdam), The Comedy of Errors (Regent’s Park Theatre), Three Sisters (Manchester Royal Exchange), Fast Labour (West Yorkshire Playhouse/Hampstead Theatre), and The Vertical Hour (Royal Court Theatre). Film and television credits include Treason, The Crown, Legrand, Tom and Jenny, Pete Versus Life, Foyle’s War, Larkrise to Candleford, The Bill, Peterloo, Kaleidoscope, The Lights, The Riot Club, Cinderella, The Knot, Jane Eyre, Made In Dagenham, Happy Go Lucky, and Blooded.
Corey Mylchreest
Edmund
Corey Mylchreest’s credits at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art include The Unravelling, Seyton in Macbeth, Tales from the Vienna Woods, and Julius Caesar. Film and television includes Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, The Sandman, Mars, and Fantastic Friends.
Caleb Obediah
Albany
Caleb Obediah’s credits at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art include Macbeth, Mysterious Bruises, and Tales from Vienna Woods. His theater credits include The Living Newspaper (Royal Court). Credits in film and television include Bridgerton.
Hughie O’Donnell
Cornwall
Hughie O’Donnell’s credits at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art include The Tempest, When the Rain Stops Falling, and Sweeney Todd. Theater credits include Into The Woods (Cockpit Theatre). Credits in film and television include Fight or Flight.
Jessica Revell
Cordelia/The Fool
Jessica Revell’s credits at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art include Twelfth Night, Gaslight, Company, and Wild Cherries. Film and television credits include Tracy Beaker Returns, The Dumping Ground, Casualty, and Doctors.

Creative Team

Rob Ashford
Co-Director

Rob Ashford is a Tony Award, Olivier Award, Emmy Award, Drama Desk Award, and Outer Critics Circle Award–winning director and choreographer. Broadway theater credits include Frozen on Broadway, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, Evita (Tony nom.), How To Succeed (Tony noms. for Direction and Choreography), Promises, Promises (Tony nom.), Thoroughly Modern Millie (Tony Award for Best Choreography), Shrek, John Waters’s Cry Baby (Tony nom., Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and Fred Astaire Awards), Curtains (Tony nom.), and Wedding Singer (Tony nom.).

Other credits include The Entertainer (Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company), Romeo and Juliet (Kenneth Branagh), The Winter’s Tale (Kenneth Branagh; Olivier nom. for Best Direction), Harlequinade (Kenneth Branagh), Macbeth (Park Avenue Armory, New York / Manchester International Festival), and the Olivier Award–winning productions of Anna Christie, A Streetcar Named Desire (Olivier nom. for Best Revival), and Parade (all Donmar Warehouse, Olivier Noms. Direction & Choreography). Ashford also directed The Barber of Seville for Chicago Lyric Opera and LA Opera, Carmen for Chicago Lyric and Houston Grand Opera, Carousel for Chicago Lyric and Houston Grand Opera, and choreographed Candide at Théatre du Châtelet, Paris; La Scala, Milan; and ENO, London.

He choreographed and staged the 2015 Academy Awards with Neil Patrick Harris, the 2014 Academy Awards with Ellen DeGeneres, and the 2013 Academy Awards with Seth MacFarlane. Ashford won the Emmy for Best Choreography for his work on Baz Luhrmann’s 2009 Academy Awards production number featuring Hugh Jackman and Beyoncé. Ashford has also choreographed the opening number for the Tony Awards for nine years, which includes hosts Neil Patrick Harris (4), Sean Hayes, Kevin Spacey, Josh Groban and Sara Bareilles, and James Corden (2). He has staged tributes at the Kennedy Center Honors for Barbra Streisand, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Jerry Herman, Barbara Cook, Tom Hanks, Shirley MacLaine, and Meryl Streep.

Films include choreography for Death on the Nile, Disney’s Cinderella, Ted 2, A Million Ways To Die in the West, Beyond The Sea, and The Deb. He was Kenneth Branagh’s associate for Murder on the Orient Express.

Jon Bausor
Set and Costume Designer

Originally trained as a musician at Oxford University and Royal Academy of Music, Jon Bausor retrained on the Motley Theatre Design Course graduating as a Linbury Prize finalist in 2000. Since then he has designed extensively in dance, opera, and theater for companies worldwide.

He designed the opening ceremony of the 2012 Paralympic Games in London, the flame lighting ceremony for the 2014 Winter Paralympics, and has recently been nominated for an Emmy Award for his production design for the Red Bull parkour film Human Pinball featuring the world’s largest pinball machine.

Theater credits include Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods (Theatre Royal, Bath); Bat Out of Hell (London/Germany/Toronto/New York/Las Vegas); WICKED (Stage Entertainment, Hamburg); Bugsy Malone (Lyric Hammersmith); True West (West End); Miyazaki’s Spirited Away (Toho, Japan); Oedipus (Tokyo); Tree (Young Vic/ Manchester International Festival); The Band, the Take That musical (West End/UK tour); The Grinning Man (Bristol Old Vic/West End, Best Design UK Theatre Award); Force Majeure (Donmar); What’s New Pussycat (Birmingham Rep); The James Plays (National Theatre/National Theatre Scotland/world tour) and James IV (Scottish tour); Ghost Stories (West End/Toronto/Moscow/Melbourne); Lord of the Flies (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre); MAMETZ (National Theatre of Wales, winner Best Design UK Theatre Awards and Wales Theatre Awards); and You For Me For You (Royal Court, Best Design, Evening Standard Awards).

As an associate artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company he has designed numerous productions including Hamlet, King Lear, The Winter’s Tale, and the entire 2012 Shipwrecked season.

Dance credits include The Nutcracker (Norwegian National Ballet), several designs for Ballet Rambert, the Royal Opera House, and Netherlands Dans Theater, and works by Liam Scarlett for the Royal Ballet, Norwegian National Ballet, and English National Ballet.

Opera credits include Ainadamar (Scottish Opera, Detroit Opera); Serse, Golden Dragon, Rigoletto, Viktoria & Her Husar, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Halles Opera); Cendrillon (Glyndebourne); Die Walküre (Bordeaux National Opera); The Knot Garden (Theatre an der Wien); The Lighthouse (Montepulciano); and Agrippina (Grange Park Opera).

Other work includes the new Arcola Theatre in London and the World Health Organization’s pavilion for COP27 co-designed with Invisible Flock.

Kenneth Branagh
Co-Director
Kenneth Branagh’s theater credits as director include John Sessions’s The Life of Napoleon, Twelfth Night, The Play What I Wrote, Macbeth, Romeo & Juliet, and Hamlet. Film credits as director include Henry V, Dead Again, Much Ado About Nothing, Swan Song, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Hamlet, Thor, Cinderella, Murder on the Orient Express, All Is True, Death on the Nile, Belfast, and A Haunting in Venice.
Aletta Collins
Choreographer
Aletta Collins is a director and choreographer working internationally in theater, opera, and ballet. As a choreographer, credits include West Side Story for the Royal Exchange Manchester, the first professional UK staging to feature new choreography; The Boy in the Dress (RSC); A Very Expensive Poison (Old Vic); The Twilight Zone (Almeida/West End); The Hairy Ape (The Old Vic/Park Avenue Armory); The Effect and His Dark Materials (National Theatre); and Anna Nicole (ROH/BAM). As a director: It’s a Wonderful Life (ENO); Hippolyte et Aricie (Berlin Staatsoper); Coraline (ROH); If You Kiss Me, Kiss Me (Young Vic); La Cenerentola and La Fanciulla del West (Opera North); and Carmen (Salzburg Festival). Collins studied at the London Contemporary Dance School and is a former associate artist at the Royal Opera House where her work included choreographing and directing Blue Moon, The Red Balloon, Cocteau Voices, and Magical Night in the Linbury Theatre. Other recent dance commissions include The days run away like wild horses and Awakenings (Rambert), and Maybe Yes Maybe, Maybe No Maybe (Phoenix Dance Company). Her short film, The Girl in the Red Dress, starring Shirley Henderson, was selected for the Cannes Film Festival’s Directors’ Fortnight and many festivals including Edinburgh and London. She also choreographed Belfast, written and directed by Kenneth Branagh.
Nina Dunn
Projection Designer

Nina Dunn is an award-winning video and projection designer who has created work for a wide range of shows internationally. She is the creative director at PixelLux and an educator within the industry.

Theater credits include The Shark is Broken (West End and Broadway); Orfeo-Dido (Grange Festival Opera); Le Fantôme de l’Opéra (Shanghai Ballet); Spitting Image Live, Bonnie & Clyde, City of Angels, No Man’s Land, and Cookies (West End); 9 to 5 The Musical (West End, UK and Australian tour, Daegu International Festival, Korea); Othello, Manor, and Emperor & Galilean (Royal National Theatre); L’Orfeo, Der Freischütz, and Macbeth (Wiener Staatsoper); Don Quixote and Lazuli Sky (Birmingham Royal Ballet); Seven Deadly Sins and Bluebeard’s Castle (Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires); A Museum in Baghdad, Venice Preserved, Miss Littlewood, The Seven Acts of Mercy, and Volpone (Royal Shakespeare Company); Hamlet and The Mountaintop (Young Vic); The Trials (Donmar Warehouse); Extinct (Theatre Royal Stratford East); Shedding a Skin (Soho Theatre); Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella (Imagine Theatre); Plenty, Copenhagen, Fiddler on the Roof, and Forty Years On (Chichester Festival Theatre); Spring Gala and Christmas at ROH (Royal Opera House); Phantom of the Opera (UK, US, and Australian tour); and The Rocky Horror Show (European tour).

Awards include Best Video Design for Bonnie & Clyde (Broadway World UK), Best Video and Electronic Content for Alice’s Adventures Underground (Knight of Illumination), Best Design for Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast (UK Pantomime Association Awards), and a nomination for Best Video Design for The Shark Is Broken (WhatsOnStage).

Paul Keogan
Lighting Designer
Paul Keogan’s recent lighting designs include Ainadamar and Gondoliers/Utopia Ltd (Scottish Opera); The Steward of Christendom, Constellations, The Visiting Hour, Hamlet, and The Snapper (Gate Theatre, Dublin); Translations (Abbey Theatre, Dublin and Lyric Theatre, Belfast); Tales from the Holywell, Portia Coughlan, and On Raftery’s Hill (Abbey Theatre, Dublin); Elektra (also set design, Irish National Opera); Scandaltown, Love Love Love Love, and The Plough and the Stars (Lyric Hammersmith); Doubt (Chichester Festival Theatre); The Naked Hand, Shirley Valentine, Double Cross, and Here Comes the Night (Lyric Theatre, Belfast); Happy Days, Blood in the Dirt, and Postcards from the Ledge (Landmark Theatre Productions, Ireland); and Cyprus Avenue (Abbey Theatre, MAC Belfast, Public Theatre NYC, Royal Court).
Ben and Max Ringham
Sound Designers and Composers
Ben and Max Ringham’s composition and sound design credits in theater include Prima Facie (Broadway, Nominated for Best Sound Design at the Tony Awards 2023), A Doll’s House (Broadway, Nominated for Best Sound Design at the Tony Awards 2023), Cyrano de Bergerac (West End, BAM NYC, Drama Desk Best Sound Design Winner), Betrayal (West End/Broadway), and Blindness (Donmar, Daryl Roth Theatre, Los Metros Award Winner, Mexico). As creators: Exemplar (Radio series written for BBC Radio 4), Reflections (2 Temple Place), ANNA (Created for National Theatre, Olivier Award Nomination, Best Sound Design), The Return (Directed for ETT), Curse Of The Crackles (Created for STH), and Looking For Nigel (BBC R and D).
Lucy Skilbeck
Co-Director

Lucy Skilbeck is director of actor training at RADA. She moved to the UK from Australia in 1996 and has worked on the fringe, off-West End, West End, Broadway, and the National Theatre. She founded Blue Tongue Theatre, producing and directing contemporary Australian plays. She directed her first RADA production in 2007 and took up her current position as director of actor training in 2014.

At RADA Skilbeck has directed Gabriel (Moira Buffini), A Conversation (David Williamson), In Flame (Charlotte Jones), Unprotected (Wilson, John, Fay, and Nunnery), Speaking in Tongues (Andrew Bovell), Girls and Dolls (Lisa McGee), Mrs. Klein (Nicholas Wright), Chicken Shop (Anna Yen), Frozen (Bryony Lavery), and When the Rain Stops Falling (Andrew Bovell).

Bret Yount
Fight Director
Bret Yount’s recent theater credits include Macbeth (Shakespeare’s Globe); The Crucible (Gielgud); Hope Has a Happy Meal (Royal Court Upstairs); A Little Life (Harold Pinter/Savoy); Village Idiots (Nottingham Playhouse/Stratford East); Akebah (Hampstead Theatre); Dirty Dancing (Dominion Theatre/National Tour); Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (Theatre Royal, Bath); Hamlet (Bristol Old Vic); Bad Jews (Arts Theatre); two Palestinians go dogging and The Glow (Royal Court); Force Majeure, Teenage Dick, Appropriate, and Europe (Donmar Warehouse); Spring Awakening, The Hunt, and Dance Nation (Almeida); Much Ado About Nothing and The Magician’s Elephant (RSC); The Crucible, Blues for an Alabama Sky, Jack Absolute, and The Normal Heart (Olivier Award; National Theatre); The Cherry Orchard and Hamlet (Theatre Royal Windsor); Girl from the North Country (Old Vic/West End/National Tour); and After the End (Theatre Royal, Stratford East).

Details

  • Running time: Approximately two hours, no intermission
  • Late seating is limited and latecomers may not be admitted until a suitable break in the performance.
  • King Lear contains scenes of violence and torture. Not recommended for those under the age of 13.
  • There are haze effects, strobe/flashing lights, and moments of nearly total darkness.

Location and dates

This event takes place in The Griffin Theater.

October 26 – December 15, 2024

Previews October 26 – November 13

The Shed’s Griffin Theater is located at 545 West 30th Street, between 10th and 11th Avenues. View The Shed on a map.

For information about accessibility and arriving at The Shed, visit our Accessibility page.

Accessibility

Seating

The Shed’s Griffin Theater has accessible seating. Please contact us in advance to discuss your needs and available options by emailing accessibility@theshed.org or calling (646) 455-3949.

Assistive Listening

Visitors may check out assistive listening devices at the entrance to the theater. A driver’s license will be held to check out the device.

Purchasing Tickets

The Shed’s online ticketing system includes the option to submit accommodation requests beyond the access points detailed here.

Contact Us

For questions or other requests, visit the Accessibility page, email accessibility@theshed.org, or call (646) 455-3494.

Seat Map

A seat map of the theater for King Lear
In The Works

Thank you to our partners

Major support for King Lear is provided by

The creation of new work at The Shed is generously supported by the Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Commissioning Fund and the Shed Commissioners.

Major support for live productions at The Shed is provided by the Charina Endowment Fund, with additional support from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

The Shed is connected by