King Lear
by William Shakespeare. The play was written between 1603 and 1606 and later revised. Shakespeare's earlier version, The True Chronicle of the History of the Life and Death of King Lear and His Three Daughters, was published in quarto in 1608. The Tragedy of King Lear, a more theatrical version, was included in the 1623 First Folio. The first recorded performance appears to have been on 26 December 1606.
Performance history in South Africa
First recorded production in South Africa 18* ***
The first Shakespeare to be done at the Little Theatre, directed by Cecil Tugman in 1936.
Other productions by Leon Gluckman at the Wits University Great Hall in 1954 (directed by Elizabeth Sneddon with Gluckman as Lear), **.
André Huguenet played Lear in 19**.
In 1969 PACT did a version with Joe Stewardson, directed by Robert Mohr and in
19** CAPAB did one with Michael Atkinson &&
1998 A production by the Take Away Shakespeare Company, directed by James Whyle toured the country, also playing the Grahamstown Festival.
In 2006 The Actor's Co-Operative in association with the Playhouse Company presented Shakespeare's King Lear at the Playhouse Drama in Durban.
Translations and adaptations
A controversial production of an Afrikaans version of the play (translated as Koning Lear by Uys Krige, directed by Peter Kleinschmidt and featuring Cobus Rossouw) was done by CAPAB at the Nico Malan Theatre in Cape Town in 1971 as part of its opening season?*??**.
Sources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Lear
Bosman, 1928: pp.
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