‘It’s easy to get people’s attention – you just turn the lights out. But to actually keep it there is tricky,” says director, actor and passionate Shakespearean Michael Hurst. Take King Lear, for instance, which he is starring in and directing next month. It has 18 named characters, well over three hours’ running time if you’re not careful, and a famously bleak conclusion, even by Shakespearean tragedy standards. Just a few of the obstacles at which a 21st-century audience might baulk.
One thing that won’t be an obstacle for them is the language. “I’ve just been trying to bash the script into shape, because, bloody Shakespeare, he may have been brilliant but fuck he was wordy,” says Hurst, who is aiming for a run time of around 2½ hours.
