King Lear

Front Cover
Bloomsbury Publishing, 2018 M08 6 - 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.

From inside the book

Selected pages

Contents

Contents Introduction Characters SCENE 1
SCENE 2
SCENE 3
SCENE 4
SCENE 5
SCENE 6
SCENE 7
SCENE 8
SCENE 14
SCENE 15
SCENE 16
SCENE 17
SCENE 18
SCENE 19
SCENE 20
SCENE 21

SCENE 9
SCENE 10
SCENE 11
SCENE 12
SCENE 13
SCENE 22
SCENE 23
SCENE 24
SCENE 25
SCENE 26

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

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).

Bibliographic information