When better than now to make a drama about "the division of the kingdom"? A new production of Shakespeare's great tragedy with a Scottish cast headed by Ian McDiarmid as Lear and Bill Paterson as Gloucester.

Lear is a very old king with a dynastic problem: three daughters and no sons.
In dividing the kingdom between his children, Lear's reasoning is admirable: he wants to hand over the kingdom to his daughters so that "future strife / May be prevented now." But in doing so he sets in train a chain of events that lead to madness, self-discovery and the disintegration of the kingdom.

King Lear ..... Ian McDiarmid
Kent ..... Michael Nardone
Goneril ..... Madeleine Worrall
Regan ..... Frances Grey
Cordelia ..... Joanna Vanderham
Gloucester ..... Bill Paterson
Edgar ..... Finn den Hertog
Edmund ..... Paul Higgins
The Fool ..... Brian Vernel
Albany ..... Steven Robertson
Cornwall ..... Steven Cree
Oswald ..... Owen Whitelaw
Burgundy/Doctor ..... Sean Murray
King of France ..... Simon Harrison
Old Man/Gentleman ..... Ewan Bailey

Music performed by Polly Phillips (bassoon) and Georgina McGrath (double bass)

Music and Sound Design by Gary C Newman

Produced and directed by Gaynor Macfarlane. Show less