This is a repeating event- Event 1 / 812 June 2024 6:00 pm
Shakespeare's King Lear with Jane Wymark & Julie Sutherland
Event Details
King Lear opens with a focus on the divisions that will pit the characters against each other for the rest of the play. Audiences are invited to listen to two earls discussing the King’s favourites, not just among his subjects but even between his sons-in-law. The conversation unfolds to reveal the scene’s “darker purpose” – Lear’s plan to divide his kingdom among his daughters, relinquishing his responsibility but not the privileges that come with power.
Division, then, is at the heart of this play, and leads to hatred, mistrust and death. In this world of fracture and betrayal, Lear learns important lessons about greatness and vulnerability. He loses his kingship to become human. If King Lear was only about the titular character’s allegorical journey, the play would be simply another morality tale and a far cry from the full-blown nihilistic tragedy that it actually is.
As we examine this play, we shall discuss that nihilism, along with the many other themes for which it is so well known: loyalty, suffering, madness and self-knowledge.
STUDY DETAILS:
- Eight-meeting study led by Jane Wymark & Julie Sutherland
- Wednesdays, 6.00-8.00 pm (UK), 5 June – 24 July 2024
- £280 for 8 meetings with two facilitators, to include opening notes and resources
- We will use the Arden Shakespeare edition edited by R.A. Foakes: ISBN-13 978-1903436592, but other editions are welcome, particularly the Folger and RSC editions (it’s useful to have a range of footnotes).
