King Lear, Rose Theatre

From the formidable company Northern Broadsides comes Shakespeare’s story of the mad king and his daughters.
Touring UK venues that include the York International Shakespeare Festival, Northern Broadsides’ King Lear touches down in London only for a week so make sure to book early for this production bursting with humanity.
King Lear has grown old and irritable. In bequeathing his kingdom to his three daughters, he mistakenly interprets flattery for love by the two eldest women, Goneril and Regan. It is Cordelia alone who believes her love for her father cannot be proved in words. When she refuses to speak, Lear banishes her in a rage. This is a powerful, hugely emotional story of a man losing both his youth and his wits. As he is rejected first by Goneril then by Regan, he begins to come apart. 'O, let me not be mad, not mad, sweet heaven. Keep me in temper, I would not be mad.'
In the eponymous royal role is Barrie Rutter — he first performed it sixteen years ago, with the same company that he now runs. Earlier this year he enjoyed critical success in Rutherford and Son. 'Rutter breathes a great deal of humanity into the old tyrant,' the Telegraph observed — a perfect adage for any actor about to play Lear. Famed director Jonathan Miller earned high praise himself for the same production and will return with Rutter to direct King Lear. 'As always with Northern Broadsides, the conversational quality of the actor’s performances allows one to emphasise the intelligibility of the characters’ complementary relationships,' Miller promises. He has directed many greats as Lear including Christopher Plummer and Michael Horden. 'Although Shakespeare set Lear in pre-Christian England I have always staged the play in the year when it was written.... Having worked with Barrie previously, I feel confident that this particular production will bring forward justly unrecognised aspects of this remarkable drama.'
Culture Whisper have learned that the part of Edgar will be played by Jack Wilkinson, who took on the lead in David Copperfield last year at Oldham Coliseum.