King Lear
Approximately 2 hours No interval
King Lear - 2023 West End History , Info & More
Wyndham's Theatre
(Leicester Square) Charing Cross Road London
Kenneth Branagh will direct and play the title role for 50 performances only at Wyndham’s Theatre from 21 October.
King Lear - 2023 - West End Cast
FEATURED REVIEWS FOR King Lear
Kenneth Branagh’s banal tragedy
6 / 10
It’s a bit like seeing a 19th century actor manager taking to the stage. There are some magnetic moments – most notably with Jessica Revell who doubles both as Cordelia and The Fool – but Branagh seems reluctant to drop his guard, to expose himself to frailty or feeling. Even when he is battling the elements, he still seems to be in control. He holds the role but never fully seems to inhabit it.
The veteran actor directs and plays the title role in a brisk and curiously weightless London production.
4 / 10
The production feels like an accomplished rhetorical exercise that doesn’t run deep, when this, of all plays, needs to rattle the soul. The litmus test of any “Lear” is whether you emerge from the theater moist-eyed, and my cheeks were dry throughout.
Category
by Aliya Al-Hassan - November 1, 2023
Kenneth Branagh returns to the West End to direct and play the title role in William Shakespeare’s KING LEAR, for 50 performances only. Completing the cast is a company of RADA graduates.
by Alexander Cohen - November 1, 2023
Alarm bells ring when a director stars in the play they are also directing. Even if that director is Sir Kenneth Branagh. Nine times out of ten the production falls flat and the audience are left wondering if ego is to blame. Branagh’s hotly anticipated stab at King Lear is, sadly, no exception.
by Aliya Al-Hassan - October 3, 2023
Images have been released from inside the rehearsal room for The Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company’s King Lear. Check out the photos here.
King Lear FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
King Lear History
Other Productions of King Lear
| 1754 | Broadway |
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| 1905 | Broadway |
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| 1906 | Broadway |
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| 1907 | Broadway |
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| 1907 | Broadway |
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| 1907 | Broadway |
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| 1909 | Broadway |
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| 1911 | Broadway |
Broadway |
| 1915 | Broadway |
Broadway |
| 1917 | Broadway |
Broadway |
| 1918 | Broadway |
Broadway |
| 1923 | Broadway |
Broadway |
| 1930 | Broadway |
Broadway |
| 1930 | Broadway |
Broadway |
| 1947 | Broadway |
Broadway |
| 1950 | Broadway |
Broadway |
| 1962 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway |
| 1968 | Broadway |
Broadway |
| 1973 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway |
| 1978 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway |
| 1982 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway |
| 1990 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway |
| 1996 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway |
| 2004 | Broadway |
Lincoln Center Revival Broadway |
| 2006 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway |
| 2007 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway |
| 2011 | Off-Broadway |
Public Theater Production Off-Broadway |
| 2014 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway |
| 2014 | Off-Broadway |
Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park Off-Broadway |
| 2016 | West End |
Old Vic Revival Production West End |
| 2018 | West End |
Chichester Festival Theatre West End Revival West End |
| 2019 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Broadway |
| 2023 | West End |
West End |
| 2024 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway Production Off-Broadway |
| 2026 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway |
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