The cast of "Queen Lear" poses during a rehearsal for the show, which opens this weekend in Bend and will visit several area locations, including Culver, Sisters and Prineville.

Guerrilla Shakespeare Company tackles the tragedy “Queen Lear” — you know it as “King Lear” — at outdoor venues around Central Oregon, including in Redmond, Terrebonne, Sisters and Prineville.

Guerrilla Shakespeare Co. has been around several years, and is known for its fun, quick-paced approaches to ”Hamlet” and other plays finding ways to freshen centuries-old plays prior to the COVID-19 lockdown. After two years away, the company of local players returned last year with “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Most performance start at 7:30 p.m., save for the last one on July 30, which begins at 5.

Evolution of ‘Queen Lear’

This time around, because of the company’s gender-blind casting for many roles, the king will be a queen, and several other usually cast with men have been cast with women.

Given the company’s knack for inventive, outdoor performances of plays by the Bard of Avon, it may come as no surprise that they’ve found a way even to take the tragedy and give it a twist, also mining it for every drop of humor it has to offer.

Company founder Clinton Clark explained that initially the group of thespians had wanted to present the story of Lear with an all-female cast, but the numbers were hard to hit.

“We couldn’t get as many women out as we’d have liked, so we had to instead go with cross-casting some of the roles, including the title character,” he said. “It’s still the same Shakespearean text. We just kind of changed the pronouns around to make it make more sense.”

Jamie Speed will star as the royal Lear, who in prepping for his — er, her — retirement and divvying up her estate to her offspring, setting off a sibling power struggle. In case you haven’t heard or noticed it yourself already, HBO’s “Succession” indeed shares some plot parallels with the Roy family’s fortune finagling, albeit over five acts rather than four seasons.

Guerrilla Shakespeare shall go on

A longtime fixture in the Bend theater community, Clark is living and pursuing his theater dreams in Chicago these days, he said.

“It’s a little bit harder to get going, but I really enjoy living in the city now. Much as I love Bend, I always wanted to get out of it and try to do what I love in a bigger city,” he said.

Nevertheless, Clark will continue to make time to return to Central Oregon for Guerrilla Shakespeare Co.’s annual production.

“It’s my way of coming home every year, so I really enjoy keeping that going as well,” he said.

What: Guerrilla Shakespear Co. presents “Queen Lear”

Details: 

7:30 p.m. July 27 — Crook County Amphitheater, 1280 Main St., Prineville

7:30 p.m. July 28 — Pioneer Park, 1525 NW Wall St., Bend

7:30 p.m. July 29 — Fir Street Park, 152 N. Fir St., Sisters

5 p.m. July 30 — General Duffy’s Waterhole, 404 SW Forest Ave., Bend

Cost: $20 in advance at bendticket.com, $25 at the door

Contact: bendticket.com