
King Lear
Overview
King Lear, old and tired, divides his kingdom among his daughters, giving great importance to their protestations of love for him. When Cordelia, youngest and most honest, refuses to idly flatter the old man in return for favor, he banishes her and turns for support to his remaining daughters. But Goneril and Regan have no love for him and instead plot to take all his power from him. In a parallel, Lear's loyal courtier Gloucester favors his illegitimate son Edmund after being told lies about his faithful son Edgar. Madness and tragedy befall both ill-starred fathers.
Top Cast

Michael Hordern
King Lear

Sarah Badel
Goneril

Penelope Wilton
Regan

Angela Down
Cordelia

Frank Middlemass
Fool

Anthony Nicholls
Earl of Gloucester

Michael Jayston
Edmund

Ronald Pickup
Edgar

Ewan Hooper
Earl of Kent

Benjamin Whitrow
Duke of Albany

John Shrapnel
Duke of Cornwall

Donald Gee
Oswald
Key Film Crew
Production Stats
You May Also Like

Two rival acting students are forced to reconcile their differences and play lovers Romeo and Juliet in their final school play, vying for a life-changing prize.
O, Brawling Love!

The evil Iago pretends to be friend of Othello in order to manipulate him to serve his own end in the film version of this Shakespeare classic.
Othello

Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, finds out that his uncle Claudius killed his father to obtain the throne, and plans revenge.
Hamlet

Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, returns home to find his father murdered and his mother now marrying the murderer... his uncle. Meanwhile, war is brewing.
Hamlet

Stranded in the heat of a barren African desert, eleven bus-passengers shelter in the remnants of an abandoned town. As rescue grows more remote by the day and anxiety deepens, an idea emerges: why not stage a play. However the choice of King Lear only manages to plunge this disparate group of travelers into turmoil as they struggle to overcome both nature's wrath and their own morality.
The King Is Alive

The first film ever to be created with dialogue sourced entirely from lyrics, C.R.E.A.M. is a modern-day adaptation of Romeo & Juliet built entirely from over 700 Wu-Tang Clan tracks.
C.R.E.A.M.

After a tragedy, Atel finds himself stuck on a series of mountains⊠with a familiar voice somehow communicating with him.
Mountains

Winner of four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor, Sir Laurence Olivierâs Hamlet continues to be the most compelling version of Shakespeareâs beloved tragedy. Olivier is at his most inspiredâboth as director and as the melancholy Dane himselfâas he breathes new life into the words of one of the worldâs greatest dramatists.
Hamlet

Returning to their lord's castle, samurai warriors Washizu and Miki are waylaid by a spirit who predicts their futures. When the first part of the spirit's prophecy comes true, Washizu's scheming wife, Asaji, presses him to speed up the rest of the spirit's prophecy by murdering his lord and usurping his place. Director Akira Kurosawa's resetting of William Shakespeare's "Macbeth" in feudal Japan is one of his most acclaimed films.
Throne of Blood

Titus Andronicus returns from the wars and sees his sons and daughters taken from him, one by one. Shakespeare's goriest and earliest tragedy.
Titus

Venice, 1596. Bassanio begs his friend Antonio, a prosperous merchant, to lend him a large sum of money so that he can woo Portia, a very wealthy heiress; but Antonio has invested his fortune abroad, so they turn to Shylock, a Jewish moneylender, and ask him for a loan.
The Merchant of Venice

Witty, playful and utterly magical, the story is a compelling romantic adventure in which Rosalind and Orlando's celebrated courtship is played out against a backdrop of political rivalry, banishment and exile in the Forest of Arden - set in 19th-century Japan.
As You Like It

In Manhattanâs Upper West Side, rival gangs of Polish-Americans and newly arrived Puerto Ricans clash for control of the neighborhood, even as two young members from opposite sides fall dangerously in love.
West Side Story

In this contemporary take on William Shakespeare's classic tragedy, the Montagues and Capulets have moved their ongoing feud to the sweltering suburb of Verona Beach, where Romeo and Juliet fall in love and secretly wed. Though the film is visually modern, the bard's dialogue remains.
Romeo + Juliet

Juliet awakens from a fever dream. How did we get here? The lines between hallucination and memory blur as cinema and dance collide in a kaleidoscopic journey of queer belonging, defiance, and self-discovery. A vivid retelling of Shakespeareâs Romeo and Juliet brought to life by Scottish Ballet.
These Violent Delights

King Lear is a proud man who solicits praise from his three daughters in return for inheritance of the kingdom. Daughters Goneril and Regan profess their affection vehemently. Cordelia, who does not respect the process her father has chosen, does not humor him. Lear's perceived rejection from Cordelia leads to her banishment, thus splitting the kingdom between the other two. This hasty decision becomes his fatal error.



