King Lear

Fool
Come place him here by me, Do thou for him stand:
The sweet and bitter fool Will presently appear;
The one in motley here, The other found out there.

Lear
Dost thou call me fool, boy?

Fool
All thy other titles thou hast given away; that
thou wast born with.

King Lear is the most mysterious and profound play of world literature. Samuel Beckett often claimed that Lear is unperformable, that it is impossible to stage this play. I fully agree with him and yet want to risk it. The central plot – the one about angry Lear who tests the love of his daughters and disowns the youngest one, only to be himself disowned – harbours a second, reflective plot: a story about another old man who is menaced by his illegitimate son and protected by his legitimate one… Lear is a drama about the miseries of growing old and the impossibility of living youth in justice.
LUC BONDY