King Lear

Synopsis: Video recording, using three cameras,of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s 1993 production of King Lear. Directed by Adrian Noble with Robert Stephens as Lear.
Language: English
Country: Great Britain
Medium: Video
Technical information: Colour / Sound
Recording date: 10 Dec 1993
Duration: 201 mins

Theatre: Royal Shakespeare Theatre
Theatre company: Royal Shakespeare Company
Production type: Stage Recordings
Historical period: No period
Plays: King Lear
Subjects: Drama
Keywords: Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)
Related items: Every Inch a King; First Night Impressions. Part 2: the Actors; Kaleidoscope [13/05/1993]

Notes: The RSC recorded two performances using a single camera at the RST (8 January 1994) and the Barbican (13 June 1994). These recordings are catalogued separately.
General: Robert Stephens was very ill throughout the run of his performances as Lear and the press night was postponed from 18 to 20 May because of the illness. Robert Stephens’ Lear was much anticipated and widely acclaimed, particularly for his moving performance in the latter half of the play: ‘this Lear is too frail to carry his daughter’s body unaided, and his broken howls and whimpers as he surveys her lifeless body bring the audience to the very heart of grief and loss. It is an extraordinary achievement’ (Charles Spencer, Daily Telegraph).
History: Press night, Royal Shakespeare Theatre, 20 May 1993.
Stills: Stills from, and design notes on, the production are available on the Arts and Humanities Performing Arts Data Service (AHDS) at http://ahds.ac.uk/performingarts/collections/designing-shakespeare.htm
Reviews: Holland, Peter Shakespeare Survey (1995), pp. 181-207 (review article).

Robert Stephens	Lear
Abigail McKern	Cordelia
David Bradley	Earl of Gloucester
Ian Hughes (2)	Fool
Simon Russell Beale	Edgar, later disguised as Tom o’Bedlam
David Calder	Earl of Kent
Janet Dale	Goneril
Jenny Quayle	Regan
John Normington	Duke of Albany
Mark Lockyer	Oswald
Owen Teale	Edmund
Richard Clothier	King of France
Simon Dormandy	Duke of Cornwall
Stuart Bunce	Duke of Burgundy
Tim Hudson	Servant of Cornwall

British Universities Film & Video Council