The Chitester Festival Theatre’s production of King Lear, starring Ian McKellen, received five-star reviews for its sell-out run, and transfers to the West End for a limited season. The Independent called McKellen’s performance in the title role an “extraordinarily moving portrayal.”
Jonathan Munby directs this “nuanced and powerful” (The Times) contemporary retelling of Shakespeare’s tender, violent, moving and shocking play.
Considered by many to be the greatest tragedy ever written, King Lear sees two aging fathers – one a King, one his courtier – reject the children who truly love them. Their blindness unleashes a tornado of pitiless ambition and treachery, as family and state are plunged into a violent power struggle with bitter ends.