They fled war, then found new hope through Shakespeare’s toughest play

The stage set was haunting in its stark simplicity. Even more if the play happened to be “King Lear” — one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies, and also one of the thorniest and most challenging. “That without love,” he said, “we are nothing.” — King Lear, Act III of “King Lear,” by William Shakespeare Uzhorod, the troupe’s Ukrainian home city, lies in the shadow of the Carpathian Mountains, close by the border with Hungary. He told a contact at the Royal Shakespeare Company, or RSC, about a theater troupe made up of war-displaced amateur actors staging well-received performances of “King Lear” — but so far, only in Ukraine. — King Lear in Act IV From its earliest stagings — scholars date the first to a performance at King James’ court in 1606 — “Lear” was considered famously difficult.