Though New York cabbie Davidson Garrett has no kingdom to divide among three daughters, he still finds himself wandering the streets like a dethroned King Lear.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008 at 10:20 AM

Enterprising readers may already know about Davidson Garrett’s 2006 52-page paperback book King Lear of the Taxi: Musings of a New York City Actor / Taxi Driver. Among the author’s prose and poetry recollections are a pair involving separate celebrity fares Lauren Bacall and the late Mother Theresa.

Now comes Taxi Driver: King Lear of the Taxi, a documentary from Flashgun Films UK. Set to premiere at the inaugural edition of International Film Festival England (June 10th – 13th) in Tamworth, the film is even more of a hybrid than the source book.

While Garrett provides the voiceover, the black and white footage was actually shot entirely in UK’s Stoke-on-Trent and contextually also references the fact that there has recently been a great increase in the number of violent incidents against cabbies in the west Midlands region. As far as how Garret managed to align himself with one of the Bard’s most famous protagonists, well, it’s a stretch.

"As I drive my yellow taxi past the public theater on Lafayette Street, I often think to myself, ‘I’m lost, like a queer Lear in Shakespeare’s masterpiece," the grey bearded hopeful intones in the trailer for the doc. "A dethroned king searching for my elusive theatrical kingdom."

http://www.filmstew.com/showArticle.aspx?ContentID=17052