Go! feature

Bruce Cromer figured he’d have to wait until he was in his 60s to perform “King Lear,” but he’s glad to be doing it at age 51 for the current Cincinnati Shakespeare Company production.

He’s been in “King Lear” twice before, including playing Albany in a joint production with the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park and the St. Louis Repertory Theatre, and so knows the show a bit.

“I watched Joneal Joplin do it” in those productions, Cromer said, “and I saw the toll it took on him, and he was around 62 at the time, so I’m glad I’m doing it now because it takes an incredible amount of energy.”

In spite of his previous experience, however, he said that he’s learned so much about it from the inside of Lear this time around that he’s amazed how much he didn’t know.

“There are so many levels to it,” he said. “You dig around and get more out of it because every layer you push aside reveals something more.”

One thing he didn’t realize, he said, is how whiny Lear could come across if he’s not careful.

“There’s some humor in that, but no one wants to see an old man bemoaning his fate all evening long,” he said. “And then there’s the rage. I count 11 times when he just blows his top, but you can’t stay there all night either.”

So he said he’s taking the advice of director Brian Isaac Phillips to put off the madness for as long as he can.

“He slips away bit by bit, but he still comes up with some clear and lucid points,” Cromer said. “He slides into his madness as he loses everything, and it’s not until he gets thrown out into the street as a beggar that he begins to find himself.

“And I think he ages tremendously because of it and becomes very frail by the end.”

Cincinnati Shakespeare Company’s “King Lear” also features guest artists Nick Rose as Kent and Skip Lundby as Gloucester along with the resident ensemble.     

Phillips’ directorial concept focuses on Lear’s journey as a “stripping down of man to his bare essence to find the center of his humanity again,” Phillips said in a press release.  

King Lear, a story of “love and loss,” proves that “familial love is the truest love of all,” he said.

• WHAT: “King Lear” by William Shakespeare
• WHERE: Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, 719 Race St., Cincinnati
• WHEN: March 28 through April 20
• COST: $20-$26
• MORE INFO: (513) 381-2273; www.cincyshakes.com

Photo by Cottage House: Bruce Cromer as King Lear and Kelly Mengelkoch as Cordelia