Mike Dorey
Pip Utton has earned a stellar reputation over the years and is often a fringe theatre favourite amongst those craving some classic theatrical storytelling. I had not had the pleasure of witnessing his apparent grandeur until this week and, as my rating makes clear, I certainly wasn’t disappointed.
King Lear is a classic, obviously. It’s been done a million times by a million different companies and performers both professional and amateur alike. Why does Lear endure like the other great classics of Shakespeare’s pantheon? Is it the story? The complex relationship between Lear and his daughters? The great tragedy of his life? I am not the right person to ask, I can tell you why Lear endures at the Prague Fringe Festival and his name, is Pip Utton.
This one-man performance of Lear is a tour de force for Utton. It is not an obvious choice for a one-person production as the play usually relies on many different characters and King Lear’s relationship with each one. Utton choices to direct dialogue to audience members when conversing with characters and using the silence and his reactions for the audience to infer meaning. It’s been very cleverly cut together, obviously as a one act version of the play, large swaths of dialogue and classic Shakespeare filler have been thrown away, keeping many of the play’s iconic monologues and soliloquies intact despite this. It’s a clever way of preserving the main beats of the story without completely ditching any contextual relevance. Minimal costume and props keep things easy and fluid to transition from scene to scene and cover significant time jumps in this new abridged version.
Whilst, as Shakespeare goes, this version offers something new (although not unheard of) for the audience, my focus of this review is Utton himself. He is (and I do not say this lightly) possibly the most engaging actor I’ve ever witnessed in the flesh. He is completely captivating. His range from strong King and his subsequent decent into madness is dazzling. His booming voice cuts through the room like a razor and his tender subtle tones pull on the heartstrings, both equally powerful and both equally impressive. Simply put I am in awe of him.
This show offers little new content for Shakespeare fans; but goodness me I have never seen this character performed so well in my life. This is a must see for Shakespeare fans looking for something powerful.
Recommended Drink: Pair this with a Serpent’s Tooth cocktail.
Performances of Pip Utton: King Lear have now concluded at Prague Fringe 2025.
Freddie Haberfellner
Miriam Trujillo
