King Lear

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Bloomsbury Academic, 2018 M10 30 - 104 pages

Jonathan Munby's explosive revival of Shakespeare's epic tragedy transferred to the West End following its sold-out run at Chichester Festival Theatre. Performed by a celebrated cast led by Ian McKellen as the embittered monarch in a fractured kingdom.

In this version the play has been cut back to its essentials to create a shorter play for a modern audience. Munby has also created a version to suit the intimacy and immediacy of the Minerva Theatre (Chichester), whilst harnessing what he describes as the "catapulting ferocity" of the play.

Two ageing fathers - one a King, one his courtier - reject the children who truly love them. Their blindness unleashes a tornado of pitiless ambition and treachery as family and state are plunged into a violent power struggle with shocking ends.

Tender, brutal, moving and epic, King Lear is considered by many to be the greatest tragedy ever written.

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About the author (2018)

Jonathan Munby's theatre credits include: King Lear (transferring to the West End in July), First Light (Minerva Theatre), Frozen (Theatre Royal Haymarket); King Kong: Legend of a Boxer (Fugard Theatre South Africa); All the Angels, The Merchant of Venice, Antony and Cleopatra and A Midsummer Night's Dream (Shakespeare's Globe, WhatsOnStage nomination for Best Shakespearean Production).

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