Pleasure Principle

Sanada Kohei is in his third year of junior high school, and is constantly bullied by three classmates, one of which happens to like the same girl that he does. Along with a troubled school life, Kohei doesn't get very good grades and his family life isn't too great either. The only company he keeps is that of flowers, and he has many potted flowers in his room that he takes care of. Kohei has already gone through ten tutors by the time that the drama takes place. Hip-hop singer ZEEBRA plays Shunsaku, his newest tutor. Shunsaku is not the usual kind of tutor; he's a bit perverted and throws Kohei around when he's being difficult. Ultimately, it's Shunsaku's influence that changes Kohei.

"Lear Alone" uses just King Lear's lines from the first folio of Shakespeare's well-known tragedy to explore themes of loneliness, ageing and homelessness: a study of one man's vulnerability as he confronts and negotiates a digital world. This disenfranchised Lear's relationship to the text, and to the viewer, will be determined by the phone in his hand, the noise on the streets and the disturbance inside his head. Performed solely by 69-year-old actor Edmund Dehn, the project was filmed on location in and around London, starting at Actor's Care Home Denville Hall. The five-part series will be presented as a play within a play - as such, Edmund plays the part of an actor playing Lear: trying to find his voice and his place in the world as he grapples with homelessness.