King Lear Costume Photoshoot Project 2022

King Lear Costume Design Project led by costume designer Katie Davenport

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You are required to design a full collection of costumes for a contemporary production of King Lear.

You must design the full complement of costumes required for each character in the production in each scene.

The context in which you intend these costumes to be viewed must be clear in your sketchbook and supporting documents. Experimentation with different media in your costume presentations is encouraged.

In consultation with your tutor, choose 2 costume designs to style from found clothing, Lir stores, hired costume or any other resource at your disposal. (1 costume design in the case of a minor option). These costumes are to be fitted on a body of your choice and photographed in a location suitable to your interpretation of the text.

Presentation of drawings, mood boards and photographs at the end of the project.

King Lear Play Summary – My Version for Costume

Lear, the tycoon of a gaming and technology company, decides to step down from the post and divide his empire evenly among his three daughters. First, however, he puts his daughters through a test, asking each to tell him how much she loves him. Goneril and Regan, Lear’s older daughters, give their father flattering answers. But Cordelia, Lear’s youngest and favorite daughter, remains silent, saying that she has no words to describe how much she loves her father. Lear flies into a rage and disowns Cordelia. France, an investor of the company, who is in love with Cordelia, says that he still wants to marry her even without her part in the deal, and she chooses him without her father’s blessing.

Lear quickly learns that he made a bad decision. Goneril and Regan swiftly begin to undermine the little authority that Lear still holds. Unable to believe that his beloved daughters are betraying him, Lear slowly goes insane. Getting more and more divided between the reality and the virtual world he created.

Meanwhile, the most famous encrypting technology CEO, Gloucester, also experiences family problems. His illegitimate son, Edmund, tricks him into believing that his legitimate son, Edgar, is trying to kill him. Fleeing the manhunt that his father has set for him, Edgar disguises himself as a crazy beggar and calls himself “Poor Tom.” Like Lear, he is gets more and more divided between reality and game.

When the loyal Gloucester realizes that Lear’s daughters have turned against their father, he decides to help Lear in spite of the danger. Regan and her husband, Cornwall, discover him helping Lear, accuse him of treason and blind him. He ends up being found by his disguised son, Edgar, and led toward the virtual reality, where Lear has also been brought.

In the company, an army of workers lands as part of an invasion led by Cordelia in an effort to save her father. Edmund becomes romantically entangled with both Regan and Goneril, whose husband, Albany, is increasingly sympathetic to Lear’s cause. Goneril and Edmund conspire to kill Albany.

The despairing Gloucester tries to commit suicide, but Edgar saves him by pulling the strange trick of leading him off an imaginary cliff. Meanwhile, workers led by Edmund, defeat the Cordelia-led. Lear and Cordelia are captured. In the climactic scene, Edgar duels with and kills Edmund; we learn of the death of Gloucester; Goneril poisons Regan out of jealousy over Edmund and then kills herself when her treachery is revealed to Albany; Edmund’s betrayal of Cordelia leads to her needless execution in prison; and Lear finally dies out of grief at Cordelia’s passing. Albany, Edgar, and the elderly Kent are left to take care of the company under a cloud of sorrow and regret.

Photoshoot