Greg Anderson and Chris Dinolfo in Synetic’s King Lear. Photo: Graeme B. Shaw.

Balloons. Tricycles. Clowns. A rave party. A stage covered with coarse sand. And not a spoken word all night. Why, of course — this must be a production of…King Lear?! But banish any worries, because this is a production by those masters of the unlikely reimagining, Synetic Theater.

Whole dissertations could be written about what this, Synetic’s seventh wordless adaptation of Shakespeare, adds to or detracts from the well-trod tale of King Lear. But for those who are not studying the Bard, it’s probably much better to not even worry about it and think of this is a new play based on the same source material. A passing familiarity with the plot — which can be refreshed by Synetic’s in-program synopsis — will help on occasion, but for the most part someone who’d never even heard of Shakespeare can, and should, enjoy this show.

In Synetic’s (not Shakespeare’s) “King Lear,” a company of clowns resides in a sandy wasteland beside a half-fallen castle (set by Phil Charlwood), yet act like they possess kingdoms and armies. They could be homeless people playing make-believe; they could be actual monarchs. Either way, two fathers in power — the imperious Lear (Irakli Kavsadze) and the more buffoonish Gloucester (Hector Reynoso) — succumb to the machinations of their ungrateful/ambitious children — Lear’s Goneril (Ira Koval) and Regan (Irina Tsikurishvili) and Gloucester’s Edmund (Philip Fletcher) — and cast out their most devoted child — Lear’s Cordelio (Chris Dinolfo) and Gloucster’s Edgar (Ben Cunis). Both fathers come to regret their loss. Tragedy ensues.

So does a Michael Jackson-style dance-battle. An epic sandstorm, too. And plenty of pratfalls. Director Paata Tsikurishvili’s achievement is that he finds so many ways to communicate the story, sans speech, which not only make primal, emotional sense but are also immensely entertaining. Synetic is not interested in making us think about the themes; they just want us to laugh, thrill and cry, shout “Bravo!” and then go home moved and satiated.

Director Tsikurishvili succeeds in this, thanks not only to his crack team of acrobatic performers led by Kavsadze, who finds perfection in his Lear by being as magnetically imperfect as only a true clown can be. He has Irina Tsikurishvili’s varied choreography and Andrew Griffin’s incisive light design. He has the costume design of Georgi Alexi-Meskhishvili, which tells us with visual archetypes all we need to know about each character. And he has the original music of Konsantine Lortkipanidze, which, like the greatest film scores, can be credited with much of — if not nearly all of — the show’s real impact.

This production isn’t perfect, particularly when Synetic worries too much about hewing to Shakespeare’s version — such as with Edmund’s “seduction” of Regan, which crosses the line for no identifiable purpose, and the unnecessary attempt to justify the gender-switch of Cordelia with half-hearted social commentary. But when as much skilled physicality, drama, low comedy, dancing and fighting is packed into this production’s 95 minutes as can normally only be found in a whole season’s worth of shows, the missteps pass quickly and we can get right back to the serious business of being deeply entertained.

Synetic’s King Lear runs at the Lansburgh Theatre through April 24. Tickets are available online.