Performing King Lear

Jonathan Croall is a distinguished biographer and theatre historian. He is the author of twenty books, notably the acclaimed biographies John Gielgud: Matinee Idol to Movie Star (Methuen Drama) and Sybil Thorndike: A Star of Life.

• Introduction 1 A Stage History2 The First of the Moderns: John Gielgud, Randle Ayrton, Donald Wolfit, Laurence Olivier 3 At the Old Vic: William Devlin, John Gielgud4 A Stratford Decade: John Gielgud, Michael Redgrave, Charles Laughton, Paul Scofield5 For the Royal Shakespeare Company: Eric Porter, Donald Sinden, Michael Gambon6 Around the Regions: Michael Hordern, Kathryn Hunter, Warren Mitchell, Pete Postlethwaite, Tim Pigott-Smith7 At the Old Vic 2: Anthony Quayle, Eric Porter, Alan Howard 8 In the Round: Paul Shelley, Clive Swift, John Shrapnel9 For the Royal Shakespeare Company 2: John Wood, Robert Stephens, Nigel Hawthorne 10 At the Globe: Julian Glover, David Calder, Joseph Marcell 11 On the Road: Timothy West, Anthony Quayle, Richard Briers 12 In Wales and Scotland: Nicol Williamson, David Hayman 13 Young Audiences, Young Players: Tony Church, Richard Haddon Haines, Timothy West, Nonso Anozie, Paul Copley14 For the Royal Shakespeare Company 3: Corin Redgrave, Ian McKellen, Greg Hicks 15 In Smaller Spaces: Robert Demeger, Tom Wilkinson, Oliver Cotton, Oliver Ford Davies, Derek Jacobi, Jonathan Pryce 16 Transatlantic Sessions: Peter Ustinov, Christopher Plummer, Frank Langella, Michael Pennington 17 At the National: Anthony Hopkins, Brian Cox, Ian Holm, Simon Russell BealeSourcesFurther ReadingAcknowledgementsIndex

[An] illuminating survey of modern approaches to the play in performance ... [providing] succinct accounts of nearly 50 performances over the last half-century.