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L-R: Regan, [Kellie Bright], Cordelia [Jodie McNee], Lear [David Calder] and Goneril [Sally Bretton]. Photo: Hugo Glendinning

directed by Dominic Dromgoole

Old King Lear, weary of royal duties, decides to break up his kingdom, divide it among his three daughters, and present the largest part to the one who loves him most. His two eldest daughters profess their love extravagantly, but young Cordelia refuses to flatter him. Enraged, he banishes her to France. But the old king's rash generosity is cruelly repaid. Cast out by his daughters onto a bare heath during a pitiless storm, Lear discovers too late the false values by which he has lived and devastatingly, the suffering common to all humanity. Its tempestuous poetry shot through with touches of humour and moments of heart-rending simplicity, King Lear is one of the most far-reaching artistic explorations of the human condition.

Creative Team

Director - Dominic Dromgoole
Designer - Jonathan Fensom
Composer - Claire van Kampen
Choreographer - Sian Williams
Fight Director - Renny Krupinski

Cast

David Calder - King Lear
Sally Bretton - Goneril
Fraser James - Duke of Albany
Kellie Bright - Regan
Peter Hamilton Dyer - Duke of Cornwall
Jodie McNee - Cordelia
Danny Lee Wynter - Lear's Fool
Kevork Malikyan - Lear's Knight
Paul Copley - Earl of Kent
Joseph Mydell - Earl of Gloucester
Trystan Gravelle - Edgar
Daniel Hawksford - Edmund
Paul Lloyd - Old Man/Doctor
Kurt Egyiawan - Gloucester's Retainer
Ashley Rolfe - Oswald
Beru Tessema - King of France
Ben Bishop - Duke of Burgundy
Pamela Hay - Ballad Singer
Michael Jarvis, Ben Lee, Richard Marshall, Fabian Spencer - Bedlamites/Knights/Soldiers

Discover the Play

Discover other productions of King Lear at the Globe:

King Lear (2001)

Discover the actors' experiences making the production in Adopt An Actor:

Danny Lee Wynter as The Fool

Joseph Mydell as Gloucester

Sally Bretton as Goneril

Laughter in King Lear: Farah Karim-Cooper explores the role of comedy in Shakespeare's tragedies.

The Problem of the Heath: Gwylim Jones questions the assumption that King Lear's storm scenes take place on a heath.

King Lear was performed in 2008, as part of the Totus Mundus Season.