National Theatre Live: King Lear

The film shows a staged play. The play is Shakespeare’s King Lear. Lear is a king grown old. He decides to divide his kingdom among his three daughters. He sets a measure for the shares. He asks them to say how much they love him. Two of them pile up long praise. Cordelia, the daughter he loves, says nothing. Lear is angered by that silence. He cuts her out of her share. The chain of decisions begins there. The king loses his authority. His mind gives way as well. The account moves through the break inside the family. The performance runs beyond three and a half hours. Simon Russell Beale and Kate Fleetwood appear in the two hundred five minute film, a British production Robin Lough and Sam Mendes finished in 2014.