An aging king creates a succession plan that divides Britain between his three daughters. Requiring each child to flatter him in order to receive her gift, Lear is publicly embarrassed when his youngest, most beloved child refuses.
Indignant, Lear disinherits her and splits the country between his two eldest daughters, setting off a chain of events that leads Britain into civil war and the retired king into exile and madness. The greatest tragedy in the English language, King Lear examines the often self-destructive relationships between parents and their children, the danger of absolute power to the human psyche, and the universal challenge of senility and providing care for our elders.
Robert Jason Jackson (Broadway’s Aida, Quintessence’s Antigone and Mourning Becomes Electra) returns to Philadelphia as King Lear.