The Tragedy of King Lear, Part 1

Summary: 1948 BBC live studio production of Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of King Lear, presented in two parts on two subsequent Sundays.
Theatre play: King Lear by William Shakespeare [more information]
Play synopsis: Lear, King of Britain, decides to abdicate and to divide his kingdom between his three daughters. But Cordelia refuses to make a public declaration of love and is disinherited. Kent is banished for defending her. Lear’s daughters Goneril and Regan, with their husbands, inherit the kingdom. Gloucester is deceived by his bastard son Edmund and disinheits his legitimate son Edgar. Lear quarrels with his daughters who refuse to show him appropriate respect. In a rage, he goes out into a storm with the Fool and Kent, who has returned disguised as a servant. Gloucester is betrayed by Edmund, and Regan and Cornwall blind him. Cordelia returns to the kingdom with the army of her husband, the King of France. Lear and Cordelia reconcile, but in the events that follow almost everyone dies apart from Edgar who inherits the kingdom.
Production history: Dated to 1605-06
Date of transmission: Sunday 22 August 1948
Time: 8.30-10.20pm
Channel: BBC Television
Production company: BBC

Producer

Royston Morley

Playwright

William Shakespeare

Sets / Settings

Barry Learoyd

Fight Arranger

Victor Adams

Associate Producer

Douglas Allen

Cast

Title: Radio Times, 20 August 1948 (Magazine)
Linking notes: listing, p. 26; article by J. C. Trewin ‘Every Inch a King’, p. 25; article, p. 24

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