King Lear

by William Shakespeare. The play was written between 1603 and 1606 and later revised. The 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, and 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* ***

1936: Performed as the first Shakespeare to be done at the Little Theatre, directed by Cecil Tugman.

1954: Produced by Leon Gluckman at the Wits University Great Hall in 1954, directed by Elizabeth Sneddon with Gluckman as Lear.

1960: A production by Port Elizabeth Shakespearean Festival, 1960, with André Huguenet as Lear.

In 1969 PACT did a version with Joe Stewardson, directed by Robert Mohr at the Alexander Theatre. Also featuring Tony James as the Fool.

1974: A CAPAB production of the play was performed for the opening of the 1820 Settlers Monument in Grahamstown.

1977 Roy Sargeant directed the play for CAPAB, with Michael Atkinson, **

1981: A production by PACT in the Staatsteater, Pretoria Anthony James.

1998 A production by the Take Away Shakespeare Company, directed by James Whyle toured the country, also playing the Grahamstown Festival.

2002: A production by the North West Arts Drama Youth Group, directed by Mbulelo Grootboom at the Grahamstown Festival, June/July 2002

2006: The Actor's Co-Operative in association with the Playhouse Company presented the play at the Playhouse Drama in Durban.

Translations and adaptations

1971: A controversial production of an Afrikaans version of the play (translated as Koning Lear by Uys Krige (HAUM, 1971), 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?*??**.

1990: A production of Krige's Afrikaans text was done by PACT, directed by Francois Swart (assisted by [[Tjaart Potgieter), with Louis van Niekerk (Lear), Peter Se-Puma, Bill Curry, André Stolz, Tjaart Potgieter, Gys de Villiers, Johan Malherbe, André Odendaal, Kevin Smith, Leslie Fong, Dan Sebogodi, Pieter Brand, Antoinette Kellermann (Goneril), Hélène Truter (Regan), Natania van Heerden (Cordelia), Pierre Perold, Nomsa Nene, Nomsa Xaba. Design by Chris van den Berg, lighting design by Paul Pamboukian.