A First: William Shakespeare's King Lear in Filipino

MANILA, Philippines - William Shakespeare is regarded as the greatest global dramatist ever. His works has prompted so many adaptations and retellings and has been articulated in many different forms and languages. However, we Filipinos have never seen one of his greatest plays, King Lear, done in graceful liquid Tagalog prose - until now.

After the back-to-back success of Philippine Educational Theater Association's (PETA) Shakespeare rap musical 'William' and its box office comedy-drama 'Care Divas', PETA opens 2012 with another brave opus: the first-ever Filipino adaptation of William Shakespeare's evocative masterpiece, King Lear.

Set in a post-nuclear world that is strangely contemporary and familiar, Shakespeare's King Lear receives a fitting, royal makeover, fashioned by a pool of Filipino theater giants.

National Artist for Literature, Bienvenido Lumbera translates the text into prose while retaining the rhythm, texture and elegant brutality of Shakespeare's tragedy. Acclaimed theater director, Nonon Padilla then turns the epic classic into a modern-dress contemporary family drama, while World Stage Design Awardee Gino Gonzales establishes the dark aesthetic, settings and styles of the play.

Exciting, suspenseful and virtually violent, PETA's 'Haring Lear' retains Shakespeare's beautiful and devastating themes of the disintegration of family solidarity, running the gamut of love, madness, death and sacrifice.

'Haring Lear' features a traditional Shakespeare all-male cast helmed by theater stalwart Teroy Guzman who plays the role of the aging monarch, Haring Lear. The rest of the cast includes: Gary Lim (Regan), Nor Domingo (Goneril), Abner Delina (Cordelia), Jay Gonzaga (Edmundo), Myke Salomon (Edgardo), Jack Yabut (Gloster), Josel Reyes (Kent), George De Jesus (Oswaldo), Jeff Hernandez (Duke ng Cornualles), Renante Bustamante (Duke ng Albanya), Fredyl Hernandez (Duke ng Burgonia), Angel Moratilla (Hari ng Francia) and Ernie Cloma (Matandang Lalaki).

'Haring Lear' runs every Friday, Saturday and Sunday from January 27 until March 4, 2012 at The PETA Theater Center. For tickets, contact 7256244, 4100821-22, 0917-5765400,petatheater@gmail.com, www.petatheater.com.