One king, three princesses, two mothers and one crown: this is the setup for Lear's Daughters, a play written by the Women's Theatre Group and based on Shakespeare's King Lear. When I arrived at the Ring Theatre Sept. 28 to see the Anthony Aston Players' version of the play, I didn't know quite what to expect. My 11th-grade knowledge of King Lear is hazy at best, and I was a bit concerned that I would be hopelessly confused, but fortunately my fears were unfounded.

The starkness of sophomore Madeline Smith's set design was striking. The dark gray of the prop-free set evoked thoughts of a medieval dungeon, while the simple backdrop of a castle outline with one side ripped away encapsulated the play's central conflict.

The play began with the Fool (Smith), who functioned as narrator, comic relief and, ironically, a voice of reason. Nanny (senior Katie Henderson) provides another narrative voice, but the three princesses and the audience learn that Nanny lies as often as she tells the truth. Lear's Daughters is very dialogue-heavy, with little real action. Director senior Sarah Wynne did an excellent job in choosing actresses who could handle the technical demands of this type of performance.

Much of the play's dialogue is abstract, as if the play's authors were more concerned with giving vivid but disjointed impressions than with presenting a cohesive narrative. The dialogue has the sound not of Shakespeare's verse but of modern poetry. Such a structure not only allows each character an opportunity to shine, but renders knowledge of Shakespeare's tragedy unnecessary in order to understand Lear's Daughters.

The most forceful personality in the play is King Lear himself; although Lear never appears onstage, his presence is palpable in every conversation, and his daughters' fear and admiration of him is the drama's driving force. The story is riddled with echoes of Lear's violence. Each time I thought I had found the most talented member of the cast, another of the actresses brought an extra spark to her character and changed my mind.

Smith was exceptional, her timing precise and her face wonderfully expressive. Junior Kate Roberts as Goneril, the eldest of the three daughters, portrayed her character as a young woman torn between the desire to escape from her tyrannical, all-powerful father and the desire to be like him.

Sophomore Meredith Ducz played Regan, the middle daughter, with a restrained emotion that vibrated beneath the surface and finally exploded when she agreed to abort the child she had conceived. Youngest daughter Cordelia (freshman Emily Johnson), as her "daddy's darling," is trapped between childishness and the need to express herself as an adult woman.

Henderson's Nanny was an intriguing combination of mother and predator, of duty and mutiny.

As presented by the Anthony Aston Players, the play ends with the three daughters spotlighted in the center of the stage, reaching upward to grasp their father's crown, each eager to secure her power by any means necessary.

This final image was memorable and evocative, like the rest of the play. Lear's Daughters was one of the best ­ if not the best ­ performances I have seen at the university, and the fact that it was a student-run production makes the quality even more impressive.