King Lear & Fool

I dug into a handful of King Lear productions for inspiration, leaning heavily into the more traditional costuming. I wanted Lear's colors to match the general feel of the room set, and the Fool would wear all white, matching the character of Solo who is also the fool of the show, in a sense.

Concept sketches:

These two are essentially cloth dolls with clay heads. Both heads are sculpted from Sculpey polymer clay and tin foil, and painted with acrylics.

I knew they would be very small onstage, and so the paint job must be very striking to stand out. I wanted the two of them to be very discint from each other, as well. So Lear's features are very sharp and sunken in, while the Fool is entirely soft and round with more natural colors.

A little easter egg here, the diamond shape in the center of the nose has become a trademark of mine for any of my harsher, grizzled, or rugged characters. I use it as much as I can, when sculpting or when doing my own makeup. It's a little inspired by the Mysterious Stranger design by Barry Bruce, when I sculpted the mask myself I included it.

I painted the base of Lear's beard grey, but I had plans to cover it with hair later.

Now it was time for Lear to get his hair! The Fool wouldn't be getting any, his head is hidden entirely in his hat. But Lear's hair had been an important part of the design from the beginning.

His hair is made from wool, sold for felting. Starting from the edges I painted on layers of white glue and stuck small sections of wool to the face one by one. I then repeated the process for his beard.

Since the clothes were doll-sized, I knew I could use entirely scraps from my collection.

Lear's clothes start with a dark red tunic, with slitted arms that reveal a brighter red velvet underneath. On top is layered a light grey, dark teal, then light red drape, with two belts holding them in place. Then he has a wide scarf with gold detail, and finally, a fur stole.

The fool wears a simple tunic with wide sleeves to match the costume of the Solo character. It's also tired with a belt to bring on some variation and match the fabric on Lear. Underneath, his body is the same as Lear's, just much smaller.

SInce the puppets would only be operated by one person, I decided they should be sewn together. The pose is inspired by several artistic renderings of the scene, where the Fool clutches onto Lear's robes. One string would hold up Lear himself in place, he would have one for his head and another that moves both arms at once, while the Fool only had a single string on his head.