The Stratford Festival’s critically acclaimed performance of King Lear. An aging monarch resolves to divide his kingdom among his three daughters, with consequences he little expects. His reason shattered in the storm of violent emotion that ensues, with his very life hanging in the balance, Lear loses everything that has defined him as a king – and thereby discovers the essence of his own humanity.
Acting
Feore's descent from towering arrogance to broken nakedness.
Direction
Tosoni lets the stage breathe while cameras find intimacy.
Production
Stratford's minimal staging becomes elemental force.
Director
Joan Tosoni
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This Stratford Festival production was filmed over three performances with live audiences, not staged for cameras—those gasps are real.
Feore deliberately played Lear's early scenes as physically robust and sexually charged to make his collapse more devastating; the storm scene was filmed during an actual Ontario thunderstorm that delayed production.
CA
