Review: Fool: The Hilarious True Story of King Lear

Review: Fool: The Hilarious True Story of King Lear | The Greeley Garage Sale Theatre | Greeley, CO | Curtain Up! | Eric Fitzgerald

The Tragedy of King Lear is one of Shakespeare’s great abysses — a play of storms, betrayals, and unraveling minds — which makes it more delightful when a production dares to treat that darkness as fertile ground for mischief. Fool: The Hilarious True Story of King Lear, by Austin Tichenor, presented by The Greeley Garage Sale Theatre and directed with sly precision by Daniel Mothershed, operates not as a reinterpretation but as a comic counter‑narrative, a gleefully irreverent tale running parallel to the tragedy we think we know. This staging leans hard into its own riotous logic, mining the margins of Lear for bawdy wit and anarchic energy, and the result is a production that feels both smartly constructed and unabashedly fun.

Fool follows Pocket (K. Dionne), King Lear’s (Seth Willis) quick-witted jester, as he struggles to prevent the kingdom from falling apart under Lear’s disastrous choices. When Lear banishes the honest Cordelia (Leah Rohlfs) and transfers power to the scheming Goneril (Eli Schamane) and Regan (Amy Long), Pocket—helped by his hapless apprentice Drool (Rob Walker) and sometimes impeded by his puppet Jones (K. Dionne)—navigates a web of lust, treachery, and political chaos. Along the way, he crosses paths with Edmund (Heath Howes), Gloucester (Eli Schamane), and the rest of Lear’s familiar court, including the ever-suffering Taster (Eric Long) and the fugitive Edgar (Will Benich), whose misfortunes Pocket gleefully exploits as the story moves forward from a gutter-level view that turns the darkest parts of the tragedy into bawdy, fast-moving comedy.

Based on Christopher Moore’s gleefully profane novel of the same name, Fool arrives onstage with the rare distinction of being almost brand‑new to the theatrical world; before this Greeley staging, it had only seen a single full production — its world premiere at Seven Ages Theatricals in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, in 2025. That scarcity gives the piece an electric, first‑look quality, as though the ink is still drying and the mischief is still expanding at the edges.

Daniel Mothershed’s direction matches the play’s rarity with a confidence that feels both freshly energized and fully in control. His staging has a seamless, swift‑moving flow — scenes blend into one another with a playful precision, as if he’s directing the chaos rather than simply containing it. What could easily drift into unruliness instead becomes a well-shaped, lively-paced production, one that respects Moore’s anarchic spirit while showcasing Mothershed’s own instinct for clarity, rhythm, and comic edge. It’s evident throughout that Mothershed has collaborated closely with playwright Austin Tichenor to bring this unruly world to life with such cohesion and punch.

With more than twenty‑seven characters ricocheting through the story and only nine actors to embody them, Fool unfolds with the crackling ensemble energy of a vintage Saturday Night Live cast — the kind where comic timing is razor‑sharp, transformations are instantaneous, and the illusion of improvisation is so strong you almost forget how tightly scripted the evening actually is. At the center of it all is K. Dionne as Pocket, the production’s magnetic fulcrum, whose performance threads mischief, intelligence, and a sly, conspiratorial rapport with the audience into every scene. Their presence doesn’t just anchor the chaos; it gives the entire production its pulse.

K. Dionne as Pocket

Among the many pleasures of this cast, several performances land with particular force: Seth Willis brings a wonderfully unhinged regality to Lear, Leah Rohlfs gives Cordelia a clarity and moral ballast that sharpens every scene she enters, and Rob Walker’s Drool is a comic marvel — all instinct, innocence, and perfectly timed physical chaos. But the truth is that every actor on this stage is exceptional, each delivering work so vivid and committed that the cumulative effect is a company firing on all cylinders.

The physical production is a triumph of ingenuity, thanks to Jen Ford, who handles set, tech, lighting, and sound with a seamlessness that belies the complexity of the show’s demands. Staged in the sanctuary of Family of Christ Presbyterian Church in Greeley, the production benefits from a space that has been beautifully repurposed for theatrical storytelling — not just adapted, but reshaped into an environment that supports quick shifts, bold comic beats, and the play’s ever‑accelerating momentum. Ford’s work is complemented by Priscilla Sawicki’s costumes, which bring sharp character definition and a welcome burst of visual wit, and by Rob Walker’s puppet design and creation, which fold effortlessly into the show’s comic vocabulary.

What ultimately makes this Fool so rewarding is the convergence of Austin Tichenor’s sharp, quick‑witted script, Daniel Mothershed’s assured and inventive direction, and the magnetic performance of K. Dionne as Pocket — a trio of strengths that shape the evening’s momentum and give it its unmistakable charge. This is theatre that feels alive in the room, propelled by craft, intelligence, and a company fully committed to the ride. Fool: The Hilarious True Story of King Lear runs through February 14, and it is well worth the trip to Greeley to experience a production this distinctive, spirited, and joyfully executed.

For information and tickets: https://www.greeleytheatre.org/