What is King Lear really thinking? What has made his daughters what they are? What does his mysterious Fool dream about? What really lies behind the familiar lines of Shakespeare’s great tragedy?
Michael Pennington appeared triumphantly as King Lear in New York in 2014 and repeats the part in a major UK tour in 2016. As well as giving an enthralling account of the circumstances and fortunes of the New York production, he dispels the idea of this great play as something forbidding and remote by bringing its characters vividly into the present in their contemporary voices to explain their reactions, strategies, struggles and setbacks.
This counterpoint of Shakespeare’s play seen from this point of view with the earthly story of the actor working in Brooklyn with real people is uncanny and beautiful. Pennington’s account is also funny, highly personal and deeply illuminating, both honest and scholarly. Invaluable for theatre practitioners, theatregoers and all lovers of Shakespeare, KING LEAR IN BROOKLYN is the work of one of our very finest actor-writers at the top of his game.
