document_title: Around the Horn

question_text: who has the most around the horn wins

question_tokens: who has the most around the horn wins

text: Around the Horn

text: History[edit]

text: Around the Horn premiered on November 4, 2002.[2] From its premiere until January 2004, the show was hosted by Max Kellerman, who at the time was largely known strictly as a contributor to ESPN's Friday Night Fights. Kellerman departed from the network for Fox Sports[3] [4] and after the show tried out several replacements, current host Tony Reali was named the permanent host in February 2004.[5] As of August 2017, Woody Paige has the most wins in the history of the show, with more than five hundred.[6] Despite early negative reviews due to its argumentative formatting,[7] the show has lasted more than fifteen years on the air, remaining a staple on ESPN.[8]

text: The set[edit]

text: The original set was in the same Atlantic Video complex as the set for Pardon the Interruption.[9] It featured the host's desk with the point triggers[10] and mute buttons.[11] The judge of the show scores four panelists, that are shown on four different screens.[12] Behind the host's desk was a map of the contiguous United States of America with the cities the sportswriters on the show appeared from. The map, divided into time zones, displayed the names of five newspapers representing each time zone. The Los Angeles Times represented the Pacific Time Zone, the Denver Post the Mountain Time Zone, the Dallas Morning News and Chicago Sun-Times both represented the Central Time Zone, and the Boston Globe represented the Eastern Time Zone. This was to create a regionally biased discussion, but this was later phased out.

text: When panelist Woody Paige was based in New York, the logo of Cold Pizza was added to the Eastern Time Zone side of the map as Paige also appeared on that program. Eventually, the logo of the Boston Globe was replaced by the word "Boston" as many of the contributors from Boston were no longer writing for the Globe. The map was eventually revised in this way for the other cities on the map, but there cities of other contributors were not added to the board (possibly due to a lack of space) before the map was removed. Panelists still appear from left to right as on a map of the United States, from the westernmost on the left to the easternmost on the right.

text: On September 27, 2010, Around the Horn and Pardon the Interruption began broadcasting in high definition and moved from the Atlantic Video complex to facilities in the ABC News Washington bureau, where high definition sets were built for both shows.[13]

text: Each panelist appears either in the offices of their newspaper, in front of a screen representing the city in which they are located, or in another studio. Dallas, Denver, and Los Angeles (when Bill Plaschke is appearing) still use their newspaper offices as studio space while Washington, Miami, Chicago, and Boston each have their own screens. (Los Angeles employs this as well when J.A. Adande is a panelist.)

text: Rounds[edit]

text: The current Around The Horn format consists of the following:

text:
Introduction: Three sports headlines that will be discussed during the show are previewed; this is followed by the show's open.
The First Word: Current sports headlines are discussed. The panelists give detailed arguments and can also give rebuttals to other panelists. This round lasts until the first commercial break.
Buy or Sell: A rapid-fire segment in which the panelists are asked to "buy" or "sell" (be for or against) three different concepts, also drawn from current sports headlines. In the first few months of this format and sometimes used with three panelists, four topics were discussed, with each having a shorter time limit to fit between the first and second commercial breaks. In the case of a scoring change happening during the first commercial break, Reali will tell the scores and announce the panelist or panelists that committed the "commercial break violation" before the first "Buy or Sell" topic. After this round, 2 panelists are eliminated.
Showdown: Mentioned above, the two remaining columnists take sides on any sports or cultural stories remaining. There are two or three questions, depending on the amount of time left. Usually, the westernmost panelist goes first for the first topic, with the other speaking for the second half. The panelists then alternate going first for the remaining topics. Each topic is timed between 15 and 40 seconds each depending on time remaining. Reali usually gives a panelist one point per topic, although he occasionally gives more than one point or deducts points depending on the strength or weakness of the argument. Only once there was a one-person showdown and a four people showdown.
Face Time: The winner of the showdown and therefore winner of that particular episode gets around 30 seconds (more or less depending on time left in show frame) to talk about anything he or she wishes to discuss. Most of the time these are sports related, but often their own personal life or an issue in pop culture or the news is discussed. Lounge music is played in the background as the winner talks. The lounge music is not played in serious Face Time (deaths, major news (both sports and non-sports related)).
Goodbye: Reali says how long it will be until the next episode, for example, "we're on a 23-and-a-half hour break." On Fridays, he will sign off by saying "a 71-and-a-half-hour break." If there is an extended period until the show comes back on, Reali may simply say, "You do the math!"
Paper Toss: Signature sign-off of the show, with Reali crumpling his notes and throwing them towards the camera. As he does this, the panelists will often continue to chatter in the background as the show ends. Since the summer of 2016, Reali has gone more towards throwing paper airplanes or flicking paper footballs toward the camera.
PTI Next: This simply tells viewers just that: that Pardon the Interruption is up next.

text: Previous formats[edit]

text: Before the format of the show was changed in early 2003, the format was similar, wherein the first two rounds were largely the same but with different titles. There was a bigger difference after that. The show ran like so:

text:
The Opening Round: The two biggest headlines of the day.
The Lightning Round: A quick-moving round with four topics where players had to make their points quickly or risk getting muted by Max Kellerman, the former host. Somewhat similar, though not entirely, to the Lightning Round currently on the program.
The Bonus Round: One final topic, with the panelists trying to earn some last-second points, followed by a sports trivia question for each panelist, worth five points.
The Medal Round: The panelists earned Face Time equal to their scores converted to seconds, in reverse order of their placing. The winner received a gold medal, second place received silver, third place got bronze, and the fourth-place finisher was given a foil ball. More often than not, due to time restrictions, the panelists were given less time than they earned, or at least one panelist would not be given any time at all. During this round, panelists could appeal to the Disembodied Voice for more points.

text: Despite the change in format, Reali still occasionally announces "ten topics, one winner" at the beginning of the show regardless of the number of topics.

text: This format ran from 2003 thru 2015:

text:
Introduction: A commercial-free transition to the opening moments of the show starts with the host, Reali, introducing the panelists as "four of America's most (themed) sportswriters". For example, if the "theme word" is "indifferent", the four panelists would all do their impressions of an indifferent sportswriter. The show itself is then introduced with Reali mentioning three topics to be discussed, then exclaiming "Ten topics, one winner. Horn me!" The opening theme plays, and cuts to Reali for an introduction. The panelists are then individually introduced and given time for an opening statement. Most of the panelists use this time for jokes or criticism of the host or other panelists, which can lead to points or mutes. (One such example is when Woody Paige used his time by blowing a miniature plasticine horn, as a pun towards the show's name; this resulted in Paige being muted by Reali.) Also any scoring changes that can be seen on ATH's YouTube page, Reali will tell the scores and announce the panelist or panelists that committed the "Pre-Show violation" before the first "First Word" topic.
The First Word: Two current sports headlines are discussed. The panelists give detailed arguments and can also give rebuttals to other panelists.
Buy or Sell: A rapid-fire segment in which the panelists are asked to "buy" or "sell" (be for or against) three different concepts, also drawn from current sports headlines. In the first few months of this format and sometimes used with three panelists, four topics were discussed, with each having a shorter time limit to fit between the first and second commercial breaks. In the case of a scoring change happening during the first commercial break, Reali will tell the scores and announce the panelist or panelists that committed the "commercial break violation" before the first "Buy or Sell" topic.
1st Cut: The contestant with the lowest point total is eliminated. In the case of ties, Reali often breaks them by miscellaneous things, like whose hair is better combed. If the awarding of a point causes a tie for the two lowest panelists, Reali sometimes gives the same panelist a second point to break it. Sometimes on shows with three panelists, the lowest score is spared from elimination.
Out of Bounds: This round, always played as the third round, is dedicated to talking about one story which is indirectly sports-related. Serious and controversial topics, such as steroid use and suspensions, are usually discussed in this round, and few to no points are awarded. This was a daily feature from the time of the format change until late October 2009. It is occasionally tied together with the "Lightning Round". "Out of Bounds" is now used in ATH today.
The Lightning Round: Another third round, this being a continuation of the sports discussion with two or three rapid-fire topics. Reintroduced to the show in November 2009; a different "Lightning Round" was part of the original ATH format.
2nd Cut: The next contestant with the lowest point total is removed, leaving just two. (In the event all four contestants were in the third round (mostly an important Out of Bounds), the two lowest point totals are eliminated.) The camera then reveals the final two contestants and Reali typically says something to the effect of, "Two men enter, one man wins!" right before the cut to commercial.
Showdown: Mentioned above, the two remaining columnists take sides on any sports or cultural stories remaining. There are two or three questions, depending on the amount of time left. Usually, the westernmost panelist goes first for the first topic, with the other speaking for the second half. The panelists then alternate going first for the remaining topics. Each topic is timed between 15 and 40 seconds each depending on time remaining. Reali usually gives a panelist one point per topic, although he occasionally gives more than one point or deducts points depending on the strength or weakness of the argument. Only once there was a one-person showdown and a four people showdown.
Face Time: The winner of the showdown and therefore winner of that particular episode gets around 30 seconds (more or less depending on time left in show frame) to talk about anything he or she wishes to discuss. Most of the time these are sports related, but often their own personal life or an issue in pop culture or the news is discussed. Lounge music is played in the background as the winner talks. The lounge music is not played in serious Face Time (deaths, major news (both sports and non-sports related)).
Goodbye: Reali says how long it will be until the next episode, for example, "we're on a 23-and-a-half hour break." On Fridays, he will sign off by saying "a 71-and-a-half-hour break." If there is an extended period until the show comes back on, Reali may simply say, "You do the math!"
Paper Toss: Signature sign-off of the show, with Reali crumpling his notes and throwing them towards the camera. As he does this, the panelists will often continue to chatter in the background as the show ends. Since the summer of 2016, Reali has gone more towards throwing paper airplanes or flicking paper footballs toward the camera.
PTI Next: This simply tells viewers just that: that Pardon the Interruption is up next.

text: Points[edit]

text: The show "scores the argument" by awarding points or deducting points from panelists at the discretion of the host depending on the strength or weakness of their arguments. The awarding and deduction of points has changed throughout the series. Originally, under host Max Kellerman, being muted cost a panelist five points. Later, Kellerman changed the scoring whereby "good" answers received two points, "great" answers received three, and a mute subtracted three points from a panelist's score. Shortly before Kellerman left the show, the mute was reduced to its current -1. After Tony Reali took over the show, the number of points awarded or deducted was randomized at his discretion. For example, Reali might give a single point for a weak argument, or many points for a particularly strong case backed by statistical information, or not.  Points may also be taken away for self-promotion, such as bragging about a good column or a successful upset prediction. (According to Reali, "Self-promotion is the mating call of the mute button!"[14]) In addition, complaints about how many points that they or another panelist received, usually results in a deduction and/or mute. Reali uses the mute button when a panelist interrupts another panelist, begins to ramble, or changes his or her previous opinion on a given topic. Mutes are also given for specific buzzwords, such as optics, narrative, or problematic.

text: On January 9, 2012, Woody Paige set a new scoring record with 71 points. Michael Smith had held the points record before the showdown with 64 on January 20, 2011. The record had been set by Jackie MacMullan in 2011. In the episode airing the day after Stephen Strasburg's debut, Woody Paige entered the showdown with 53 points despite having received a 25-point penalty at the beginning of the show due to a lost bet with Reali. The record for most points in the first round was set by Woody Paige at 41 points on October 30, 2009, that record was broken by Jackie MacMullan on May 12, 2010 with a score of 48, after she received a 25-point bonus for being named a recipient of the Basketball Hall of Fame's Curt Gowdy Media Award.[15] On November 18, 2011, Woody Paige reclaimed the title for most first round points and on January 9, 2012, increase the title to 55 points, after receiving 30 pre-topic points for correctly predicting a Denver Broncos win the night before. The highest margin of points going into Showdown was set on June 13, 2011, with Jackie MacMullan scoring 60 points, a 61-point lead over Kevin Blackistone with -1. The highest margin of points after a round was set on June 28, 2013, with Woody Page having 11 points, a 497-point lead from Jackie MacMullan, who had -486 points going into Buy or Sell.  Subsequently, on that June 28, 2013 episode, Jackie MacMullan was eliminated at the First Cut with a record low score of -474 points, due to starting with -500 points because of incorrectly predicting that Doc Rivers would not leave the Boston Celtics. Her losing effort was applauded by host Tony Reali and other panelists, including Tim Cowlishaw and Woody Paige.

text: Reali also makes bets occasionally with the panelists on sporting events, with the panelist gaining or losing a lot of points based on the outcome. For example, in summer of 2007, Woody Paige made a bet with Reali that he could drink a gallon of water during the 30 minutes of the show. At the end, the tank was empty. On the next show, secret cameras revealed Paige dumping most of the water in a cooler. Rather than receiving the promised 100 points, Paige received several mutes. Paige also received 10 points from Reali on January 22, 2009, when on the previous episode's "Face Time" Paige cheered on the New Jersey Institute of Technology's basketball team to snap their 51-game losing streak, NJIT won, Paige received points and won again. Paige used the time to offer his "service" to any other failing team at any level.

text: Reali occasionally will deduct or award points of a panelist who had a strong opinion on a sports-related matter predicted earlier in time, which then turned out to be the staunch opposite of what truly happened when the topic showed itself on the show again. For instance, in the August 30, 2010, episode, Woody Paige was awarded points after it was learned Stephen Strasburg would need Tommy John surgery, this coming after Paige was docked points in the July 29, 2010, episode when he suggested the Washington Nationals should shut Strasburg down in his first trip to the disabled list.

text: There have been some topics, most during the Out of Bounds segment, which have not been scored due to their sensitive nature. Such examples include Bob Ryan's suspension for his comments towards Jason Kidd's wife, the Duke lacrosse case, former White Sox manager Ozzie Guillén calling Jay Mariotti a "fag", Ben Roethlisberger's motorcycle accident, Michael Vick's dog fighting and animal abuse, Rick Pitino's extortion scandal, Jay Mariotti's 2010 arrest, Aaron Hernandez first degree murder arrest in 2013, and other discussions of deaths. Other sensitive topics that do not award points are held at the beginning, such as the Penn State child sex abuse scandal or the Boston Marathon bombings in April 2013.

text: Hosts[edit]

text:
Max Kellerman (November 4, 2002–January 30, 2004)
Tony Reali (February 2, 2004–present)

text: Guest hosts[edit]

text:
Zachariah Selwyn (June 8, 2004 – June 11, 2004)
Duke Castiglione (July 3, 2006 – July 5, 2006)
Rob Stone (June 30, 2008 – July 4, 2008 and July 28, 2008 – August 1, 2008)
Woody Paige (April 1, 2009, as an April Fool's Day prank, as Tony Reali took Paige's place.)
Pablo S. Torre (March 12, 2014, August 7 – 15, 2014, August 25 – 29, while Tony Reali took time off after the birth of his daughter, March 2 – 6, 2015, June 5, 2015, June 12, 2015,[16] June 13, 2016 – June 17, 2016, July 11, 2016 – July 15, 2016, August 22, 2016 – August 24 and July 10, 2017 – July 14, 2017)
Michael Smith (August 25, 2016 – August 26, 2016) when Pablo Torre was asked to fill in for sister program Pardon the Interruption, despite Torre subbing in for host Reali earlier in the week.
Kate Fagan (August 21, 2017 – August 25, 2017)

text: Panelists[edit]

text: Active panelists[edit]

text:
J.A. Adande: Former columnist for the Los Angeles Times and NBA reporter for ESPN. Left ESPN in August 2017 to focus full-time on his position as director of sports journalism at Northwestern University but returned in January 2018. Based in Los Angeles at ESPN's base there and Chicago while school is in session.
Kevin Blackistone: Fanhouse.com, former columnist for The Dallas Morning News. Based in Washington, D.C., was formerly based in Dallas at the headquarters of the Morning News.
Tim Cowlishaw: The Dallas Morning News, former reporter for ESPN's NASCAR coverage. Based in Dallas at the headquarters of the Morning News.
Kate Fagan: Columnist for espnW. Based in New York
Israel Gutierrez: columnist for The Miami Herald, based in Miami at ESPN's studios at the Clevelander Hotel.
Frank Isola: New York Daily News. Based in New York.
Bomani Jones: former co-host of Highly Questionable, contributor to The Dan Le Batard Show and host of The Right Time on ESPN Radio, writer for ESPN.com. Based in New York; used to be based in Raleigh, North Carolina and later Miami.
Mina Kimes: Senior writer for ESPN The Magazine. Based in Los Angeles.
Jackie MacMullan: ESPN.com NBA columnist and freelance writer; former columnist for The Boston Globe,[17] based in Boston.
Woody Paige: Colorado Springs Gazette. Based in Denver at KMGH-TV. Was based in New York during his time on 1st and 10. Although he left The Denver Post in 2016, he continued to be based there while in Denver until February 2017.
Bill Plaschke: Los Angeles Times. Based in Los Angeles at the headquarters for the Times.
Bob Ryan: The Boston Globe, substitute host of PTI. Based in Boston.
Pablo S. Torre: writer for ESPN the magazine and ESPN.com, former reporter for Sports Illustrated. Also substitute host. Usually based in New York, but sometimes based in Miami.
Sarah Spain: Columnist for espnW, host of ESPN Radio's That's What She Said and The Trifecta with fellow panelist Kate Fagan. Based in Chicago.
Ramona Shelburne: Senior writer for espn.com . Co-host of TMI with Beadle & Shelburne on ESPNLA 710. Based in Los Angeles.
Clinton Yates: Senior writer for ESPN.com's The Undefeated. Based in Washington, D.C.

text: Former panelists[edit]

text:
Jim Armstrong: former columnist for The Denver Post, based in Denver. Was a frequent fill-in for Woody Paige.
Josh Elliott: former panelist of defunct show "Jim Rome is Burning," former contributor to ESPN the Magazine and ESPN.com, anchor of live morning SportsCenter with Hannah Storm. Left ESPN to become news anchor for Good Morning America, later moving to NBC Sports and most recently to CBS News. Was based in New York.
Michael Holley: former columnist for The Boston Globe, works with CSN New England and WEEI-FM radio talk show "The Big Show", based in Boston. Originally a semi-regular, Holley left the show and ESPN to contribute to I, Max on Fox Sports Net.
Andy Katz: former ESPN college basketball analyst.
Jay Mariotti: Fanhouse.com, former columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times.[18] Was arrested on May 11, 2011 and was charged with assault, stalking and domestic violence after approaching his ex-girlfriend, who he was ordered by a court to avoid,[19] and was based in Los Angeles at the time of his arrest. Had been based at the headquarters of the Sun-Times.
Charlie Pierce: The Boston Globe, based in Boston
Tony Reali: Pardon the Interruption (before hosting; Reali was originally referred to as "Stat Boy", his former nickname on PTI), contributed from the PTI set
Adam Schefter: Former reporter for The Denver Post and NFL Network, currently with ESPN as an NFL Insider. Schefter was still based in Denver when he appeared on Around The Horn.
T.J. Simers: one of the original regulars along with Woody Paige, Jay Mariotti, Tim Cowlishaw, and Bob Ryan. Based at the Los Angeles Times. Left show in 2003.
Gene Wojciechowski: ESPN.com, columnist for ESPNChicago.com. Based in Chicago, Illinois, at the site of the Sun-Times.
Richard Justice: current correspondent for MLB.com and former columnist for the Houston Chronicle. Was based in Houston.

text: Guest panelists[edit]

text:
Bruce Arthur: The National Post
Ron Borges: The Boston Globe
Mark Cuban: Dallas Mavericks owner
Bob Glauber: Newsday
Richard Justice: Houston Chronicle
Mark Kiszla: The Denver Post
John Powers: The Boston Globe
Dan Shanoff: ESPN.com
Jean-Jacques Taylor: The Dallas Morning News
Lil Wayne: rapper; ESPN.com blogger

text: Rapper Snoop Dogg appeared in early 2009 as a "guest" in the J.A. Adande lounge and contributed to an NBA-centered discussion, but left after the first segment after apparently being offended by a remark made by Paige.

text: Active panelist statistics[edit]

text: Woody Paige, Tim Cowlishaw, Bill Plaschke, J.A. Adande, Kevin Blackistone, Jackie MacMullan, Bob Ryan, Bomani Jones, Israel Gutierrez, Pablo S. Torre, Frank Isola, Kate Fagan, Sarah Spain, Ramona Shelburne, Mina Kimes and Clinton Yates wins correct as of April 23, 2018, appearances and winning percentages are all off, Michael Smith may be a former panelist as his win total along with Jemele Hill's have been incorrect since who knows when, listed in order of first appearance.

text:
Name
# wins
# appearances
winning %
Special Notes

Woody Paige
564.5
2,423
22.4%
All Time Wins Leader, All Time Appearance Record, Highest Scoring Record (71), 2015 Around the Horn Tournament of Champions

Tim Cowlishaw
443
1,572
26.8%

Bill Plaschke
353
1,331
25.5%
2014 Around the Horn Tournament of Champions, 3rd Lowest score (-108), 70 wins versus Woody Paige

J.A. Adande
308
1,122
26.5%
2012 Around the Horn Tournament of Champions

Kevin Blackistone
286
1,077
24.4%
2011 Around the Horn Tournament of Champions

Jackie MacMullan
209
666
29.4%
Lowest Scoring Record (-474)

Bob Ryan
180
564
29.9%

Michael Smith
136
448
30.4%
Highest Active Winning Percentage (minimum 100 appearances)

Bomani Jones
151
509
28.0%
1/29/2018 win versus Woody Paige first overall since March 28, 2017, 16-3 record versus Bill Plaschke

Israel Gutierrez
112
393
25.0%

Pablo S. Torre
84.75
378
23.6%
2013 Around the Horn Tournament of Champions, Most points ever (136), Most points lost ever (-336), 2nd Lowest score (-286)

Frank Isola
80
271
24.3%

Kate Fagan
41
110
24.7%
First Appearance: 22 OCT 14[20]

Jemele Hill
19
66
30.6%

LZ Granderson
4
19
21.1%
First Appearance: 8 FEB 16

Sarah Spain
32
68
31.6%
First Appearance: 25 FEB 16, 2017 Around the Horn Tournament of Champions

Ramona Shelburne
19
31
37.5%
First Appearance: 14 JUL 16

Mina Kimes
15
38
47.8%
First Appearance: 30 MAR 17

Clinton Yates
14
59
23.7%
First Appearance: 6 SEP 17, Got his first win versus Woody Paige on September 21, 2017

text: Percentages rounded to the nearest tenth.

text: Running gags[edit]

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text: During the show's long run, it has developed certain comedic long-running gags, much like its sister show Pardon the Interruption. The most recognizable gag is the chalkboard in the top-left hand corner of Woody Paige's square on which he writes witty phrases that are different for each segment of the show, usually puns, such as "I'm chalk-bored" (which are sometimes directed at Cowlishaw, Isola, Plaschke, even Reali - and formerly Mariotti).[21] Paige started using it while in New York, then brought it back to Denver a few shows after his return. In January 2010 Paige added an electronic ticker beneath the chalkboard and with shout-outs or other messages to athletes, viewers, or the show's competitors. Due to the chalkboard's popularity, he published a book entitled I Almost Ran Out of Cha... as well as having the saying available for viewing online.

text: Another running gag involving Paige was his friendly rivalry with Mariotti, playing off a real-life dispute the two men had while working in Denver. The two have appeared in more shows than any other panelist, and have also faced each other in the Showdown the most times. Paige often mocked Mariotti on his chalkboard, and also repeatedly muted him and deducted points when he guest-hosted the show.

text: After the title sequence, Reali will greet the audience with a lines such as "Hey, now!", "That's right!", or "What do you say? What do you know?" Frequently, Woody Paige will attempt to say one of these lines before Reali gets the chance.

text: Reali began introducing every episode with "Four of America's most ... sportswriters," inserting various adjectives sometimes, but not always, related to a sports story of the day. That however was phased out by the turn of the decade. He continues to come up with introductions with clever segues based on the day's topics. During Max Kellerman's tenure, Kellerman would begin the show by saying, "These four things, I know are true!" Reali used this early in his tenure on the show, but soon adopted his own phrasing.

text: Reali is known to regularly hold panelists to their predictions to the outcomes of games and other sporting events in which correct picks are handsomely rewarded and incorrect picks result in a hefty penalty during a given panelists next appearance on the program. Most notably, Pablo Torre has received a hit every year during the NCAA men's basketball tournament in which he has several time incorrectly predicted a 16 seed to upset a number 1 seed. Unlike in prior years, Torre predicted the team to beat the number one seed for the 2016 March Madness tournament before knowing which sixteen seeds won the first round "play-in" games. Following the conclusion of Super Bowl 50, Woody Paige was the only panelist to be awarded points for a correct pick (Denver had beaten Carolina) while the remaining panelists throughout the week had been penalized accordingly their corresponding first episode following the event.

text: Reali also often introduces the 'Showdown,' the final segment of the show, with the phrase, "Two men enter, one man ..." usually ending with a pun based around a winner. For example, on January 8, 2009, Reali introduced the 'Showdown' by saying, "Two men enter, one man wins a snuggie."

text: At the end of each episode, as the camera zooms out and some of the production staff come into view, Reali attempts to hit the camera with the rolled up ball of paper from that episode. Reali also ends most episodes with the tag-line "we're on a twenty-three and a half hour break" (seventy-one and a half if it's the Friday show). When it is an extended break in between shows, Reali usually says "you do the math".

text: During the early run of the show, Disembodied Voice would work in "Around the Horn" into his program breaks, such as "Will Shaquille O'Neal go, or hang around...the horn!" Other times, Disembodied Voice would use a word which sounded similar to "around" ("ground" or "down", for example) before "...the horn!" After Tony Reali assumed hosting duties, however, he stopped using the traditional "around...the horn!" and would instead say phrases such as "Horn me!" or simply, "Horn!" before a commercial break.

text: Tim Cowlishaw impersonated Raiders owner Al Davis before his death in October 2011 by using his accent in topics that involved the Raiders. This was initially viewed as hilarious by Tony Reali and the other panelists, however, was at times, muted because of the excessiveness of the voice impersonation. In an August 2011 show, Cowlishaw was docked points for not doing the impersonation during a topic regarding the Raiders' quarterback Terrelle Pryor. Cowlishaw has done other impersonations such as Sir Alex Ferguson.

text: Kate Fagan's Face Times have often been regarding a story featured by her or her ESPNW colleagues.

text: Certain panelists have certain jokes associated with them. Woody Paige has become famous for urging the others to "Look at the schedule!" Plaschke will often say "It's over" early in a playoff series. For a time, Bomani Jones had appeared with a WWE Championship belt and pinkie ring before losing the ring, which he calls a "panky rang." When J.A. Adande had won, his Face Time was usually spent in the "J.A. Adande Lounge" where he name-drops (and is occasionally visited by) celebrities. In recent years, Tim Cowlishaw has been known to try to earn points by beginning his arguments with "As the only panelist here who actually covered [an event]...." Cowlishaw also frequently adopts teams, calling them "My Cincinnati Reds" or "My San Diego Padres". As the Stanley Cup Playoffs near each NHL season, Cowlishaw will have a miniature replica of the Stanley Cup at the ready, usually during an elimination or Face Time. Additionally, after introducing Kevin Blackistone, Reali used to say "Everything appears to be everything." Blackistone has presented his hand face up and to his left when the two newer female panelists joined the show and is in the immediately adjacent plasma screen as Reali welcomes said new female panelist (Blackistone has continued to do so for both Kate Fagan and Sarah Spain after their subsequent appearances when to his immediate left). Reali usually says "Hello Jackie/Jemele/Kate/Sarah/Ladies" after introducing the female panelists. Jackie will respond politely, whilst referring to Reali as his full first name, Anthony. When Bob Ryan was eliminated in later appearances, he began to mention that another chapter would be added to his book of Face Times you've never heard. Torre frequents the idea of robots taking over the world, particularly involving instant replays and officiating of games.


document_title: King Lear

question_text: who is alive at the end of king lear

question_tokens: who is alive at the end of king lear

root

text: King Lear

text: Characters[edit]

text:
Lear – King of Britain
Goneril – Lear's eldest daughter
Regan – Lear's second daughter
Cordelia – Lear's youngest daughter
Duke of Albany – Goneril's husband
Duke of Cornwall – Regan's husband
Earl of Gloucester
Earl of Kent – later disguised as Caius
Edgar – Gloucester's son
Edmund – Gloucester's illegitimate son
Oswald – Goneril's loyal steward
Fool – Lear's fool
King of France – suitor and later husband to Cordelia
Duke of Burgundy – suitor to Cordelia
Curan – courtier
Old man – tenant of Gloucester
Officer – employed by Edmund
Gentleman – attends Cordelia
Knights of Lear's retinue
Officers, Messengers, Servants, Soldiers, and Attendants

tag: ul

text: Synopsis[edit]

text: Act I[edit]

text: King Lear of Britain, elderly and wanting to retire from the duties of the monarchy, decides to divide his realm among his three daughters, and declares he will offer the largest share to the one who loves him most. The eldest, Goneril, speaks first, declaring her love for her father in fulsome terms. Moved by her flattery Lear proceeds to grant to Goneril her share as soon as she has finished her declaration, before Regan and Cordelia have a chance to speak. He then awards to Regan her share as soon as she has spoken. When it is finally the turn of his youngest and favourite daughter, Cordelia, at first she refuses to say anything ("Nothing, my Lord") and then declares there is nothing to compare her love to, nor words to properly express it; she speaks honestly but bluntly, that she loves him according to her bond, no more and no less. Infuriated, Lear disinherits Cordelia and divides her share between her elder sisters.

tag: p

text: The Earl of Gloucester and the Earl of Kent observe that, by dividing his realm between Goneril and Regan, Lear has awarded his realm in equal shares to the peerages of the Duke of Albany (Goneril's husband) and the Duke of Cornwall (Regan's husband). Kent objects to Lear's unfair treatment of Cordelia; enraged by Kent's protests, Lear banishes him from the country. Lear then summons the Duke of Burgundy and the King of France, who have both proposed marriage to Cordelia. Learning that Cordelia has been disinherited, the Duke of Burgundy withdraws his suit, but the King of France is impressed by her honesty and marries her nonetheless. The King of France is shocked by Lear's decision because up until this time Lear has only praised and favoured Cordelia (". . . she, who even but now was your best object, the argument of your praise, balm of your age . . . ").[2] Meanwhile, Gloucester has introduced his illegitimate son Edmund to Kent.

text: Lear announces he will live alternately with Goneril and Regan, and their husbands. He reserves to himself a retinue of one hundred knights, to be supported by his daughters. Goneril and Regan speak privately, revealing that their declarations of love were fake, and that they view Lear as a foolish old man.

text: Gloucester's bastard son Edmund resents his illegitimate status, and plots to dispose of his legitimate older brother Edgar. He tricks his father with a forged letter, making him think that Edgar plans to usurp the estate. Kent returns from exile in disguise (calling himself Caius), and Lear hires him as a servant. At Albany and Goneril's house, Lear and Kent quarrel with Oswald, Goneril's steward. Lear discovers that now that Goneril has power, she no longer respects him. She orders him to reduce the number of his disorderly retinue. Enraged, Lear departs for Regan's home. The Fool reproaches Lear with his foolishness in giving everything to Regan and Goneril, and predicts that Regan will treat him no better.

text: Act II[edit]

text: Edmund learns from Curan, a courtier, that there is likely to be war between Albany and Cornwall, and that Regan and Cornwall are to arrive at Gloucester's house that evening. Taking advantage of the arrival of the duke and Regan, Edmund fakes an attack by Edgar, and Gloucester is completely taken in. He disinherits Edgar and proclaims him an outlaw.

text: Bearing Lear's message to Regan, Kent meets Oswald again at Gloucester's home, quarrels with him again, and is put in the stocks by Regan and her husband Cornwall. When Lear arrives, he objects to the mistreatment of his messenger, but Regan is as dismissive of her father as Goneril was. Lear is enraged but impotent. Goneril arrives and supports Regan's argument against him. Lear yields completely to his rage. He rushes out into a storm to rant against his ungrateful daughters, accompanied by the mocking Fool. Kent later follows to protect him. Gloucester protests against Lear's mistreatment. With Lear's retinue of a hundred knights dissolved, the only companions he has left are his Fool and Kent. Wandering on the heath after the storm, Edgar, in the guise of a madman named Tom o' Bedlam, meets Lear. Edgar babbles madly while Lear denounces his daughters. Kent leads them all to shelter.

text: Act III[edit]

text: Edmund betrays Gloucester to Cornwall, Regan, and Goneril. He reveals evidence that his father knows of an impending French invasion designed to reinstate Lear to the throne; and in fact a French army has landed in Britain. Once Edmund leaves with Goneril to warn Albany about the invasion, Gloucester is arrested, and Regan and Cornwall gouge out Gloucester's eyes. As he is doing so, a servant is overcome with rage by what he is witnessing and attacks Cornwall, mortally wounding him. Regan kills the servant, and tells Gloucester that Edmund betrayed him; then she turns him out to wander the heath, too.

text: Act IV[edit]

text: Edgar, in his madman's guise, meets his blinded father on the heath. Gloucester, sightless and failing to recognise Edgar's voice, begs Tom to lead him to a cliff at Dover so that he may jump to his death. Goneril discovers that she finds Edmund more attractive than her honest husband Albany, whom she regards as cowardly. Albany has developed a conscience — he is disgusted by the sisters' treatment of Lear and Gloucester -- and denounces his wife. Goneril sends Edmund back to Regan. After receiving news of Cornwall's death, she fears her newly widowed sister may steal Edmund and sends him a letter through Oswald. Now alone with Lear, Kent leads him to the French army, which is commanded by Cordelia. But Lear is half-mad and terribly embarrassed by his earlier follies. At Regan's instigation, Albany joins his forces with hers against the French. Goneril's suspicions about Regan's motives are confirmed and returned, as Regan rightly guesses the meaning of her letter and declares to Oswald that she is a more appropriate match for Edmund. Edgar pretends to lead Gloucester to a cliff, then changes his voice and tells Gloucester he has miraculously survived a great fall. Lear appears, by now completely mad. He rants that the whole world is corrupt and runs off.

text: Oswald appears, still looking for Edmund. On Regan's orders, he tries to kill Gloucester but is killed by Edgar. In Oswald's pocket, Edgar finds Goneril's letter, in which she encourages Edmund to kill her husband and take her as his wife. Kent and Cordelia take charge of Lear, whose madness quickly passes. Regan, Goneril, Albany, and Edmund meet with their forces. Albany insists that they fight the French invaders but not harm Lear or Cordelia. The two sisters lust for Edmund, who has made promises to both. He considers the dilemma and plots the deaths of Albany, Lear, and Cordelia. Edgar gives Goneril's letter to Albany. The armies meet in battle, the British defeat the French, and Lear and Cordelia are captured. Edmund sends Lear and Cordelia off with secret-joint orders from him (representing Regan and her forces) and Goneril (representing the forces of her estranged husband, Albany) for the execution of Cordelia.

text: Act V[edit]

text: The victorious British leaders meet, and the recently widowed Regan now declares she will marry Edmund. But Albany exposes the intrigues of Edmund and Goneril and proclaims Edmund a traitor. Regan falls ill, having been poisoned by Goneril, and is escorted offstage, where she dies. Edmund defies Albany, who calls for a trial by combat. Edgar appears masked and in armour, and challenges Edmund to a duel. No one knows who he is. Edgar wounds Edmund fatally, though he does not die immediately. Albany confronts Goneril with the letter which was intended to be his death warrant; she flees in shame and rage. Edgar reveals himself, and reports that Gloucester died offstage from the shock and joy of learning that Edgar is alive, after Edgar revealed himself to his father.

text: Offstage, Goneril, her plans thwarted, commits suicide. The dying Edmund decides, though he admits it is against his own character, to try to save Lear and Cordelia; however, his confession comes too late. Soon after, Albany sends men to countermand Edmund's orders, Lear enters bearing Cordelia's corpse in his arms, having survived by killing the executioner. Kent appears and Lear now recognises him. Albany urges Lear to resume his throne, but as with Gloucester, the trials Lear has been through have finally overwhelmed him, and he dies. Albany then asks Kent and Edgar to take charge of the throne. Kent declines, explaining that his master is calling him on a journey and he must follow. Finally, Albany (in the Quarto version) or Edgar (in the Folio version) implies that he will now become king.

text: Sources[edit]

text: Shakespeare's play is based on various accounts of the semi-legendary Brythonic figure Leir of Britain, whose name has been linked by some scholars to the Brythonic god Lir/Llŷr, though in actuality the names are not etymologically related.[3][4][5] Shakespeare's most important source is probably the second edition of The Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande by Raphael Holinshed, published in 1587. Holinshed himself found the story in the earlier Historia Regum Britanniae by Geoffrey of Monmouth, which was written in the 12th century. Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene, published 1590, also contains a character named Cordelia, who also dies from hanging, as in King Lear.[citation needed]

text: Other possible sources are the anonymous play King Leir (published in 1605); The Mirror for Magistrates (1574), by John Higgins; The Malcontent (1604), by John Marston; The London Prodigal (1605); Montaigne's Essays, which were translated into English by John Florio in 1603; An Historical Description of Iland of Britaine (1577), by William Harrison; Remaines Concerning Britaine (1606), by William Camden; Albion's England (1589), by William Warner; and A Declaration of egregious Popish Impostures (1603), by Samuel Harsnett, which provided some of the language used by Edgar while he feigns madness.[citation needed] King Lear is also a literary variant of a common folk tale, Love Like Salt, Aarne–Thompson type 923, in which a father rejects his youngest daughter for a statement of her love that does not please him.[6]

text: The source of the subplot involving Gloucester, Edgar, and Edmund is a tale in Philip Sidney's Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia (1580–90), with a blind Paphlagonian king and his two sons, Leonatus and Plexitrus.[7]

text: Changes from source material[edit]

text: Besides the subplot involving the Earl of Gloucester and his sons, the principal innovation Shakespeare made to this story was the death of Cordelia and Lear at the end; in the account by Geoffrey of Monmouth, Cordelia restores Lear to the throne, and succeeds him as ruler after his death. During the 17th century, Shakespeare's tragic ending was much criticised and alternative versions were written by Nahum Tate, in which the leading characters survived and Edgar and Cordelia were married (despite the fact that Cordelia was previously betrothed to the King of France).[8] As Harold Bloom states: "Tate's version held the stage for almost 150 years, until Edmund Kean reinstated the play's tragic ending in 1823."[8]

text: Date and text[edit]

text:
Although an exact date of composition cannot be given, many academic editors of the play date King Lear between 1603 and 1606. The latest it could have been written is 1606, as the Stationers' Register notes a performance on 26 December 1606. The 1603 date originates from words in Edgar's speeches which may derive from Samuel Harsnett's Declaration of Egregious Popish Impostures (1603).[9] In his Arden edition, R. A. Foakes argues for a date of 1605–6, because one of Shakespeare's sources, The True Chronicle History of King Leir, was not published until 1605; close correspondences between that play and Shakespeare's suggest that he may have been working from a text (rather than from recollections of a performance).[10] Conversely, Frank Kermode, in the Riverside Shakespeare, considers the publication of Leir to have been a response to performances of Shakespeare's already-written play; noting a sonnet by William Strachey that may have verbal resemblances with Lear, Kermode concludes that "1604-5 seems the best compromise".[11] Dr. Naseeb Shaheen dates the play c1605-6 per line 1.2.103
"These late eclipses in the sun and moon" which relates to the lunar eclipse of 27 September 1605 and the solar eclipse of 2 October 1605.[12]

text: The modern text of King Lear derives from three sources: two quartos, published in 1608 (Q1) and 1619 (Q2)[13] respectively, and the version in the First Folio of 1623 (F1). The differences between these versions are significant. Q1 contains 285 lines not in F1; F1 contains around 100 lines not in Q1. Also, at least a thousand individual words are changed between the two texts, each text has a completely different style of punctuation, and about half the verse lines in the F1 are either printed as prose or differently divided in the Q1. The early editors, beginning with Alexander Pope, simply conflated the two texts, creating the modern version that has remained nearly universal for centuries. The conflated version is born from the hypothesis that Shakespeare wrote only one original manuscript, now unfortunately lost, and that the Quarto and Folio versions are distortions of that original. Others, such as Nuttall and Bloom, have identified Shakespeare himself as having been involved in reworking passages in the play to accommodate performances and other textual requirements of the play.[14]

text: As early as 1931, Madeleine Doran suggested that the two texts had basically different provenances, and that these differences between them were critically interesting. This argument, however, was not widely discussed until the late 1970s, when it was revived, principally by Michael Warren and Gary Taylor. Their thesis, while controversial, has gained significant acceptance. It posits, essentially, that the Quarto derives from something close to Shakespeare's foul papers, and the Folio is drawn in some way from a promptbook, prepared for production by Shakespeare's company or someone else. In short, Q1 is "authorial"; F1 is "theatrical".[15]

text: The New Cambridge Shakespeare has published separate editions of Q and F; the most recent Pelican Shakespeare edition contains both the 1608 Quarto and the 1623 Folio text as well as a conflated version; the New Arden edition edited by R. A. Foakes is the only recent edition to offer the traditional conflated text. Both Anthony Nuttall of Oxford University and Harold Bloom of Yale University have endorsed the view of Shakespeare having revised the tragedy at least once during his lifetime.[14] As Bloom indicates: "At the close of Shakespeare's revised King Lear, a reluctant Edgar becomes King of Britain, accepting his destiny but in the accents of despair. Nuttall speculates that Edgar, like Shakespeare himself, usurps the power of manipulating the audience by deceiving poor Gloucester."[14]

text: Analysis and criticism[edit]

text: Analysis and criticism of King Lear over the centuries has been extensive.

text:
What we know of Shakespeare's wide reading and powers of assimilation seems to show that he made use of all kinds of material, absorbing contradictory viewpoints, positive and negative, religious and secular, as if to ensure that King Lear would offer no single controlling perspective, but be open to, indeed demand, multiple interpretations.
R. A. Foakes [16]

tag: div

text: Historicist interpretations[edit]

text: John F. Danby, in his Shakespeare's Doctrine of Nature – A Study of King Lear (1949), argues that Lear dramatizes, among other things, the current meanings of "Nature". The words "nature," "natural" and "unnatural" occur over forty times in the play, reflecting a debate in Shakespeare's time about what nature really was like; this debate pervades the play and finds symbolic expression in Lear's changing attitude to Thunder. There are two strongly contrasting views of human nature in the play: that of the Lear party (Lear, Gloucester, Albany, Kent), exemplifying the philosophy of Bacon and Hooker, and that of the Edmund party (Edmund, Cornwall, Goneril, Regan), akin to the views later formulated by Hobbes. Along with the two views of Nature, Lear contains two views of Reason, brought out in Gloucester and Edmund's speeches on astrology (1.2). The rationality of the Edmund party is one with which a modern audience more readily identifies. But the Edmund party carries bold rationalism to such extremes that it becomes madness: a madness-in-reason, the ironic counterpart of Lear's "reason in madness" (IV.6.190) and the Fool's wisdom-in-folly. This betrayal of reason lies behind the play's later emphasis on feeling.

text: The two Natures and the two Reasons imply two societies. Edmund is the New Man, a member of an age of competition, suspicion, glory, in contrast with the older society which has come down from the Middle Ages, with its belief in co-operation, reasonable decency, and respect for the whole as greater than the part. King Lear is thus an allegory. The older society, that of the medieval vision, with its doting king, falls into error, and is threatened by the new Machiavellianism; it is regenerated and saved by a vision of a new order, embodied in the king's rejected daughter. Cordelia, in the allegorical scheme, is threefold: a person; an ethical principle (love); and a community. Nevertheless, Shakespeare's understanding of the New Man is so extensive as to amount almost to sympathy. Edmund is the last great expression in Shakespeare of that side of Renaissance individualism – the energy, the emancipation, the courage – which has made a positive contribution to the heritage of the West. "He embodies something vital which a final synthesis must reaffirm. But he makes an absolute claim which Shakespeare will not support. It is right for man to feel, as Edmund does, that society exists for man, not man for society. It is not right to assert the kind of man Edmund would erect to this supremacy."[17]

text: The play offers an alternative to the feudal-Machiavellian polarity, an alternative foreshadowed in France's speech (I.1.245–256), in Lear and Gloucester's prayers (III.4. 28–36; IV.1.61–66), and in the figure of Cordelia. Until the decent society is achieved, we are meant to take as role-model (though qualified by Shakespearean ironies) Edgar, "the machiavel of goodness",[18] endurance, courage and "ripeness".[19]

text: The play also contains references to disputes between King James I and Parliament. In the 1604 elections to the House of Commons, Sir John Fortescue, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, was defeated by a member of the Buckinghamshire gentry, Sir Francis Goodwin.[20] Displeased with the result, James declared the result of the Buckinghhamshire election invalid, and swore in Fortescue as the MP for Buckinghamshire while the House of Commons insisted on swearing in Goodwin, leading to a clash between King and Parliament over who had the right to decide who sat in the House of Commons.[20] The MP Thomas Wentworth, the son of another MP Peter Wentworth – often imprisoned under Elizabeth for raising the question of the succession in the Commons – was most forceful in protesting James's attempts to reduce the powers of the House of Commons, saying the King could not just declare the results of an election invalid if he disliked who had won the seat as he was insisting that he could.[21] The character of Kent resembles Peter Wentworth in the way which is tactless and blunt in advising Lear, but his point are valid that Lear should be more careful with his friends and advisers.[21]

text: Just as the House of Commons had argued to James that their loyalty was to the constitution of England, not to the King personally, Kent insists his loyalty is institutional, not personal, as he is loyal to the realm of which the king is head of, not to Lear himself, and he tells Lear to behave better for the good of the realm.[21] By contrast, Lear makes an argument similar to James that as king, he holds absolute power and could disregard the views of his subjects if they displease him whenever he liked.[21] In the play, the characters like the Fool, Kent and Cordelia who are loyalties are institutional, seeing their first loyalty to the realm are portrayed more favorably than those like Regan and Goneril who insist they are only loyal to the king, seeing their loyalties as personal.[21] Likewise, James was notorious for his riotous, debauched lifestyle and his preference for sycophantic courtiers who were forever singing his praises out of the hope for advancement, aspects of his court that closely resemble the court of King Lear who starts out in the play with a riotous, debauched court of sycophantic courtiers.[22] Kent criticises Oswald as a man unworthy of office who has only been promoted because of his sycophancy, telling Lear that he should be loyal to those who are willing to tell him the truth, a statement that many in England wished that James would heed.[22]

text: Furthermore, James VI of Scotland who inherited the throne of England upon the death of Elizabeth I in 1603, thereby uniting all of the kingdoms of the British isles into one, and a major issue of his reign was the attempt to forge a common British identity.[23] James had given his sons Henry and Charles the titles of Duke of Cornwell and Duke of Albany, the same titles bore by the men married to Regan and Goneril.[24] The play begins with Lear ruling all of Britain and ends with him destroying his realm; the critic Andrew Hadfield argued that the division of Britain by Lear was an inversion of the unification of Britain by James, who believed his policies would result in a well governed and prosperous unified realm being passed on to his heir.[24] Hadfield argued that the play was meant as a warning to James as in the play a monarch loses everything by giving in to his sycophantic courtiers who only seek to use him while neglecting those who truly loved him.[24] Hadfield also argued that the world of Lear's court is "childish" with Lear presenting himself as the father of the nation and requiring all of his subjects, not just his children, to address him in paternal terms, which infantises most of the people around him, which pointedly references James's statement in his 1598 book The Trew Law of Free Monarchies that the king is the "father of the nation", for whom all of his subjects are his children.[25]

text: Psychoanalytic and psychosocial interpretations[edit]

text: King Lear provides a basis for "the primary enactment of psychic breakdown in English literary history".[26] The play begins with Lear's "near-fairytale narcissism".[27]

text: Given the absence of legitimate mothers in King Lear, Coppélia Kahn[28] provides a psychoanalytic interpretation of the "maternal subtext" found in the play. According to Kahn, Lear's old age forces him to regress into an infantile disposition, and he now seeks a love that is traditionally satisfied by a mothering woman, but in the absence of a real mother, his daughters become the mother figures. Lear's contest of love between Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia serves as the binding agreement; his daughters will get their inheritance provided that they care for him, especially Cordelia, on whose "kind nursery" he will greatly depend.

text: Cordelia's refusal to dedicate herself to him and love him as more than a father has been interpreted by some as a resistance to incest, but Kahn also inserts the image of a rejecting mother. The situation is now a reversal of parent-child roles, in which Lear's madness is a childlike rage due to his deprivation of filial/maternal care. Even when Lear and Cordelia are captured together, his madness persists as Lear envisions a nursery in prison, where Cordelia's sole existence is for him. It is only with Cordelia's death that his fantasy of a daughter-mother ultimately diminishes, as King Lear concludes with only male characters living.

text: Sigmund Freud asserted that Cordelia symbolises Death. Therefore, when the play begins with Lear rejecting his daughter, it can be interpreted as him rejecting death; Lear is unwilling to face the finitude of his being. The play's poignant ending scene, wherein Lear carries the body of his beloved Cordelia, was of great importance to Freud. In this scene, Cordelia forces the realization of his finitude, or as Freud put it, she causes him to "make friends with the necessity of dying".[29] Shakespeare had particular intentions with Cordelia's death, and was the only writer to have Cordelia killed (in the version by the Nahum Tate, she continues to live happily, and in Holinshed's, she restores her father and succeeds him).

text: Alternatively, an analysis based on Adlerian theory suggests that the King's contest among his daughters in Act I has more to do with his control over the unmarried Cordelia.[30] This theory indicates that the King's "dethronement"[31] might have led him to seek control that he lost after he divided his land.

text: In his study of the character-portrayal of Edmund, Harold Bloom refers to him as "Shakespeare's most original character".[32]

text: "As Hazlitt pointed out", writes Bloom, "Edmund does not share in the hypocrisy of Goneril and Regan: his Machiavellianism is absolutely pure, and lacks an Oedipal motive. Freud's vision of family romances simply does not apply to Edmund. Iago is free to reinvent himself every minute, yet Iago has strong passions, however negative. Edmund has no passions whatsoever; he has never loved anyone, and he never will. In that respect, he is Shakespeare's most original character."[32]

text: The tragedy of Lear's lack of understanding of the consequences of his demands and actions is often observed to be like that of a spoiled child, but it has also been noted that his behaviour is equally likely to be seen in parents who have never adjusted to their children having grown up.[33]

text: A letter to the editor to the Daily Telegraph[34] says that Antony Sher (an actor who had played King Lear) had diagnosed King Lear's madness as not dementia but an acute confusional state caused by infection in an old man.

text: Christianity[edit]

text: Critics are divided on the question of whether or not King Lear represents an affirmation of a particular Christian doctrine.[35] Those who maintain this position posit different arguments, which include the significance of Lear's self-divestment.[36] For some critics, this reflects the Christian concepts of the fall of the mighty and the inevitable loss of worldly possessions. By 1569, sermons delivered at court such as those at Windsor declared how "rich men are rich dust, wise men wise dust... From him that weareth purple, and beareth the crown down to him that is clad with meanest apparel, there is nothing but garboil, and ruffle, and hoisting, and lingering wrath, and fear of death and death itself , and hunger, and many a whip of God."[36] Some see this in Cordelia and what she symbolized - that the material body are mere husks that would eventually be discarded so that the fruit can be reached.[37]

text: Among those who argue that Lear is redeemed in the Christian sense through suffering are A. C. Bradley[38] and John Reibetanz, who has written: "through his sufferings, Lear has won an enlightened soul".[39] Other critics who find no evidence of redemption and emphasise the horrors of the final act include John Holloway[40] and Marvin Rosenberg.[41] William R. Elton stresses the pre-Christian setting of the play, writing that, "Lear fulfills the criteria for pagan behavior in life," falling "into total blasphemy at the moment of his irredeemable loss".[42] This is related to the way some sources cite that at the end of the narrative, King Lear raged against heaven before eventually dying in despair with the death of Cordelia.[43]

text: Fairy tales[edit]

text: In the first edition of Kinder- und Hausmärchen by the Brothers Grimm, the Anhang (appendix) entry to No. 71 Princess Mouse-skin included a note: "as the father here, so asks King Lear his daughter". The English translation of this story by Oliver Loo begins as follows: "A king had three daughters; thereon he wanted to know, which loved him most, let them come in front of him and asked them. The eldest spoke, she loved him more, than the whole kingdom; the second, more than all the precious stones and pearls in the world; but the third said, she loved him more than salt. The king was so upset, that she compared her love of him with such a small thing, gave her to a servant and commanded, he should take her into the forest and kill her."[44]

text: Performance history[edit]

text: King Lear has been performed by esteemed actors since the 17th century, when men played all the roles. From the 20th century, a number of women have played male roles in the play; most commonly the Fool, who has been played (among others) by Judy Davis, Emma Thompson and Robyn Nevin. Lear himself has been played by Marianne Hoppe in 1990, by Janet Wright in 1995,[45] by Kathryn Hunter in 1996–67,[46] by Clare Coulter in 2013,[47] by Glenda Jackson in 2016,[48] and by Diane D'Aquila in 2017.[49] Marcia Gay Harden plays Lear in a few scenes from the play in the 2012 Canadian film If I Were You.

text: 17th century[edit]

text: Shakespeare wrote the role of Lear for his company's chief tragedian, Richard Burbage, for whom Shakespeare was writing incrementally older characters as their careers progressed.[50] It has been speculated either that the role of the Fool was written for the company's clown Robert Armin, or that it was written for performance by one of the company's boys, doubling the role of Cordelia.[51] Only one specific performance of the play during Shakespeare's lifetime is known: before the court of King James I at Whitehall on 26 December 1606.[52] Its original performances would have been at The Globe, where there were no sets in the modern sense, and characters would have signified their roles visually with props and costumes: Lear's costume, for example, would have changed in the course of the play as his status diminished: commencing in crown and regalia; then as a huntsman; raging bareheaded in the storm scene; and finally crowned with flowers in parody of his original status.[53]

text: All theatres were closed down by the Puritan government on 6 September 1642. Upon the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, two patent companies (the King's Company and the Duke's Company) were established, and the existing theatrical repertoire divided between them.[54] And from the restoration until the mid-19th century the performance history of King Lear is not the story of Shakespeare's version, but instead of The History of King Lear, a popular adaptation by Nahum Tate. Its most significant deviations from Shakespeare were to omit the Fool entirely, to introduce a happy ending in which Lear and Cordelia survive, and to develop a love story between Cordelia and Edgar (two characters who never interact in Shakespeare) which ends with their marriage.[55] Like most Restoration adapters of Shakespeare, Tate admired Shakespeare's natural genius but saw fit to augment his work with contemporary standards of art (which were largely guided by the neoclassical unities of time, place, and action).[56] Tate's struggle to strike a balance between raw nature and refined art is apparent in his description of the tragedy: "a heap of jewels, unstrung and unpolish't; yet so dazzling in their disorder, that I soon perceiv'd I had seiz'd a treasure."[57] Other changes included giving Cordelia a confidante named Arante, bringing the play closer to contemporary notions of poetic justice, and adding titilating material such as amorous encounters between Edmund and both Regan and Goneril, a scene in which Edgar rescues Cordelia from Edmund's attempted kidnap and rape,[58] and a scene in which Cordelia wears men's pants that would reveal the actress's ankles.[59] The play ends with a celebration of "the King's blest Restauration", an obvious reference to Charles II.[60]

text: 18th century[edit]

text: In the early 18th century, some writers began to express objections to this (and other) Restoration adaptations of Shakespeare. For example, in The Spectator on 16 April 1711 Joseph Addison wrote "King Lear is an admirable Tragedy ... as Shakespeare wrote it; but as it is reformed according to the chymerical Notion of poetical Justice in my humble Opinion it hath lost half its Beauty." Yet on the stage, Tate's version prevailed.[61]

text: David Garrick was the first actor-manager to begin to cut back on elements of Tate's adaptation in favour of Shakespeare's original: he retained Tate's major changes, including the happy ending, but removed many of Tate's lines, including Edgar's closing speech.[62] He also reduced the prominence of the Edgar-Cordelia love story, in order to focus more on the relationship between Lear and his daughters.[63] His version had a powerful emotional impact: Lear driven to madness by his daughters was (in the words of one spectator, Arthur Murphy) "the finest tragic distress ever seen on any stage" and, in contrast, the devotion shown to Lear by Cordelia (a mix of Shakespeare's, Tate's and Garrick's contributions to the part) moved the audience to tears.[64]

text: The first professional performances of King Lear in North America are likely to have been those of the Hallam Company (later the American Company) which arrived in Virginia in 1752 and who counted the play among their repertoire by the time of their departure for Jamaica in 1774.[65]

text: 19th century[edit]

text: Charles Lamb established the Romantics' attitude to King Lear in his 1811 essay "On the Tragedies of Shakespeare, considered with reference to their fitness for stage representation" where he says that the play "is essentially impossible to be represented on the stage", preferring to experience it in the study. In the theatre, he argues, "to see Lear acted, to see an old man tottering about the stage with a walking-stick, turned out of doors by his daughters on a rainy night, has nothing in it but what is painful and disgusting" yet "while we read it, we see not Lear but we are Lear, – we are in his mind, we are sustained by a grandeur which baffles the malice of daughters and storms."[66]

text: King Lear was politically controversial during the period of George III's madness, and as a result was not performed at all in the two professional theatres of London from 1811 to 1820: but was then the subject of major productions in both, within three months of his death.[67] The 19th century saw the gradual reintroduction of Shakespeare's text to displace Tate's version. Like Garrick before him, John Philip Kemble had introduced more of Shakespeare's text, while still preserving the three main elements of Tate's version: the love story, the omission of the Fool, and the happy ending. Edmund Kean played King Lear with its tragic ending in 1823, but failed and reverted to Tate's crowd-pleaser after only three performances.[68] At last in 1838 William Macready at Covent Garden performed Shakespeare's version, freed from Tate's adaptions.[69] The restored character of the Fool was played by an actress, Priscilla Horton, as, in the words of one spectator, "a fragile, hectic, beautiful-faced, half-idiot-looking boy."[70] And Helen Faucit's final appearance as Cordelia, dead in her father's arms, became one of the most iconic of Victorian images.[71] John Forster, writing in the Examiner on 14 February 1838, expressed the hope that "Mr Macready's success has banished that disgrace [Tate's version] from the stage for ever."[72] But even this version was not close to Shakespeare's: the 19th-century actor-managers heavily cut Shakespeare's scripts: ending scenes on big "curtain effects" and reducing or eliminating supporting roles to give greater prominence to the star.[73] One of Macready's innovations – the use of Stonehenge-like structures on stage to indicate an ancient setting – proved enduring on stage into the 20th century, and can be seen in the 1983 television version starring Laurence Olivier.[74]

text: In 1843, the Act for Regulating the Theatres came into force, bringing an end to the monopolies of the two existing companies and, by doing so, increased the number of theatres in London.[75] At the same time, the fashion in theatre was "pictorial": valuing visual spectacle above plot or characterisation and often required lengthy (and time consuming) scene changes.[76] For example, Henry Irving's 1892 King Lear offered spectacles such as Lear's death beneath a cliff at Dover, his face lit by the red glow of a setting sun; at the expense of cutting 46% of the text, including the blinding of Gloucester.[77] But Irving's production clearly evoked strong emotions: one spectator, Gordon Crosse, wrote of the first entrance of Lear, "a striking figure with masses of white hair. He is leaning on a huge scabbarded sword which he raises with a wild cry in answer to the shouted greeting of his guards. His gait, his looks, his gestures, all reveal the noble, imperious mind already degenerating into senile irritability under the coming shocks of grief and age."[78]

text: The importance of pictorialism to Irving, and to other theatre professionals of the Victorian era, is exemplified by the fact that Irving had used Ford Madox Brown's painting Cordelia's Portion as the inspiration for the look of his production, and that the artist himself was brought in to provide sketches for the settings of other scenes.[79] A reaction against pictorialism came with the rise of the reconstructive movement, believers in a simple style of staging more similar to that which would have pertained in renaissance theatres, whose chief early exponent was the actor-manager William Poel. Poel was influenced by a performance of King Lear directed by Jocza Savits at the Hoftheater in Munich in 1890, set on an apron stage with a three-tier Globe-like reconstruction theatre as its backdrop. Poel would use this same configuration for his own Shakespearean performances in 1893.[80]

text: 20th century[edit]

text: By mid-century, the actor-manager tradition had declined, to be replaced by a structure where the major theatre companies employed professional directors as auteurs. The last of the great actor-managers, Donald Wolfit, played Lear in 1944 on a Stonehenge-like set and was praised by James Agate as "the greatest piece of Shakespearean acting since I have been privileged to write for the Sunday Times".[81] Wolfit supposedly drank eight bottles of Guinness in the course of each performance.[82]

text: George Bernard Shaw wrote, "No man will ever write a better tragedy than Lear".[83]

text: The character of Lear in the 19th century was often that of a frail old man from the opening scene, but Lears of the 20th century often began the play as strong men displaying regal authority, including John Gielgud, Donald Wolfit and Donald Sinden.[84] Cordelia, also, evolved in the 20th century: earlier Cordelias had often been praised for being sweet, innocent and modest, but 20th-century Cordelias were often portrayed as war leaders. For example, Peggy Ashcroft, at the RST in 1950, played the role in a breastplate and carrying a sword.[85] Similarly, the Fool evolved through the course of the century, with portrayals often deriving from the music hall or circus tradition.[86]

text: At Stratford-upon-Avon in 1962 Peter Brook (who would later film the play with the same actor, Paul Scofield, in the role of Lear) set the action simply, against a huge, empty white stage. The effect of the scene when Lear and Gloucester meet, two tiny figures in rags in the midst of this emptiness, was said (by the scholar Roger Warren) to catch "both the human pathos ... and the universal scale ... of the scene."[87] Some of the lines from the radio broadcast were used by The Beatles to add into the recorded mix of the song "I Am the Walrus". John Lennon happened upon the play on the BBC Third Programme while fiddling with the radio while working on the song. The voices of actors Mark Dignam, Philip Guard, and John Bryning from the play are all heard in the song.[88]

text: Like other Shakespearean tragedies, King Lear has proved amenable to conversion into other theatrical traditions. In 1989, David McRuvie and Iyyamkode Sreedharan adapted the play then translated it to Malayalam, for performance in Kerala in the Kathakali tradition – which itself developed around 1600, contemporary with Shakespeare's writing. The show later went on tour, and in 2000 played at Shakespeare's Globe, completing (in Anthony Dawson's words) "a kind of symbolic circle".[89] Perhaps even more radical was Ong Keng Sen's 1997 adaptation of King Lear, which featured six actors each performing in a separate  Asian acting tradition and in their own separate languages. A pivotal moment occurred when the Jingju performer playing Older Daughter (a conflation of Goneril and Regan) stabbed the Noh-performed Lear whose "falling pine" deadfall, straight face-forward into the stage, astonished the audience, in what Yong Li Lan describes as a "triumph through the moving power of noh performance at the very moment of his character's defeat".[90]

text: In 1974, Buzz Goodbody directed Lear, a deliberately abbreviated title for Shakespeare's text, as the inaugural production of the RSC's studio theatre The Other Place. The performance was conceived as a chamber piece, the small intimate space and proximity to the audience enabled detailed psychological acting, which was performed with simple sets and in modern dress.[91] Peter Holland has speculated that this company/directoral decision – namely choosing to present Shakespeare in a small venue for artistic reasons when a larger venue was available – may at the time have been unprecedented.[91]

text: Brook's earlier vision of the play proved influential, and directors have gone further in presenting Lear as (in the words of R. A. Foakes) "a pathetic senior citizen trapped in a violent and hostile environment". When John Wood took the role in 1990, he played the later scenes in clothes that looked like cast-offs, inviting deliberate parallels with the uncared-for in modern Western societies.[92] Indeed, modern productions of Shakespeare's plays often reflect the world in which they are performed as much as the world for which they were written: and the Moscow theatre scene in 1994 provided an example, when two very different productions of the play (those by Sergei Zhonovach and Alexei Borodin), very different from one another in their style and outlook, were both reflections on the break-up of the Soviet Union.[93]

text: 21st century[edit]

text: In 2002 and 2010, the Hudson Shakespeare Company of New Jersey staged separate productions as part of their respective Shakespeare in the Parks seasons. The 2002 version was directed by Michael Collins and transposed the action to a West Indies, nautical setting. Actors were featured in outfits indicative of looks of various Caribbean islands. The 2010 production directed by Jon Ciccarelli was fashioned after the atmosphere of the film The Dark Knight with a palette of reds and blacks and set the action in an urban setting. Lear (Tom Cox) appeared as a head of multi-national conglomerate who divided up his fortune among his socialite daughter Goneril (Brenda Scott), his officious middle daughter Regan (Noelle Fair) and university daughter Cordelia (Emily Best).[94]

text: In 2012 Peter Hinton directed an all-First Nations production of King Lear at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, with the setting changed to an Algonquin nation in the 17th century.[95] The cast included August Schellenberg as Lear, Billy Merasty as Gloucester, Tantoo Cardinal as Regan, Kevin Loring as Edmund, Jani Lauzon in a dual role as Cordelia and the Fool, and Craig Lauzon as Kent.[95] This setting would later be reproduced as part of the Manga Shakespeare graphic novel series published by Self-Made Hero, adapted by Richard Appignanesi and featuring the illustrations of Ilya.

text: In 2015 Toronto's Theatre Passe Muraille staged a production set in Upper Canada, against the backdrop of the Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837.[96] This production starred David Fox as Lear.[96]

text: In the summer of 2015–2016, The Sydney Theatre Company staged King Lear, directed by Neil Armfield with Geoffrey Rush in the lead role and Robyn Nevin as the Fool. About the madness at the heart of the play, Rush said that for him "it's about finding the dramatic impact in the moments of his mania. What seems to work best is finding a vulnerability or a point of empathy, where an audience can look at Lear and think how shocking it must be to be that old and to be banished from your family into the open air in a storm. That's a level of impoverishment you would never want to see in any other human being, ever."[97]

text: In 2016 Talawa Theatre Company and Royal Exchange Manchester co-produced a production of King Lear with Don Warrington in the title role.[98][99] The production, featuring a largely black cast, was described in The Guardian as being "as close to definitive as can be".[100] The Daily Telegraph said "Don Warrington's King Lear is a heartbreaking tour de force".[101][102] King Lear was also staged by Royal Shakespeare Company, with Antony Sher in the lead role. The performance was directed by Gregory Doran, and was described as having "strength and depth".[103]

text: Adaptations[edit]

text: Film and video[edit]

text: The first film of King Lear was a five-minute German version made around 1905, which has not survived.[104] The oldest extant version is a ten-minute studio-based version from 1909 by Vitagraph, which made (in Luke McKernan's words) the "ill-advised" decision to attempt to cram in as much of the plot as possible.[105] Two silent versions, both titled Re Lear, were made in Italy in 1910. Of these, the version by director Gerolamo Lo Savio was filmed on location, and it dropped the Edgar sub-plot and used frequent intertitling to make the plot easier to follow than its Vitagraph predecessor.[106] A contemporary setting was used for Louis Feuillade's 1911 French adaptation Le Roi Lear Au Village, and in 1914 in America, Ernest Warde expanded the story to an hour, including spectacles such as a final battle scene.[107]

text: The Joseph Mankiewicz (1949) House of Strangers is often considered a Lear adaptation, but the parallels are more striking in Broken Lance (1954) in which a cattle baron played by Spencer Tracy tyrannises over his three sons, of whom only the youngest, Joe, played by Robert Wagner, remains loyal.[108]

text: The only two significant screen performances of Shakespeare's text date from the early 1970s: Grigori Kozintsev was working on his Korol Lir[a] at the same time as Peter Brook was filming his King Lear.[109] Brook's film starkly divided the critics: Pauline Kael said "I didn't just dislike this production, I hated it!" and suggested the alternative title "Night of the Living Dead".[110] Yet Robert Hatch in The Nation thought it as "excellent a filming of the play as one can expect" and Vincent Canby in The New York Times called it "an exalting Lear, full of exquisite terror".[111] The film drew heavily on the ideas of Jan Kott, in particular his observation that King Lear was the precursor of absurdist theatre: in particular, the film has parallels with Beckett's Endgame.[112] Critics who dislike the film particularly draw attention to its bleak nature from its opening: complaining that the world of the play does not deteriorate with Lear's suffering, but commences dark, colourless and wintry, leaving (in Douglas Brode's words) "Lear, the land, and us with nowhere to go".[113] Cruelty pervades the film, which does not distinguish between the violence of ostensibly good and evil characters, presenting both savagely.[114] Paul Scofield, as Lear, eschews sentimentality: this demanding old man with a coterie of unruly knights provokes audience sympathy for the daughters in the early scenes, and his presentation explicitly rejects the tradition (as Daniel Rosenthal describes it) of playing Lear as "poor old white-haired patriarch".[115]

text: By contrast, Korol Lir has been praised, for example by critic Alexander Anikst for the "serious, deeply thoughtful" even "philosophical approach" of director Grigori Kozintsev and writer Boris Pasternak. Making a thinly veiled criticism of Brook in the process, Anikst praised the fact that there were "no attempts at sensationalism, no efforts to 'modernise' Shakespeare by introducing Freudian themes, Existentialist ideas, eroticism, or sexual perversion. [Kozintsev]... has simply made a film of Shakespeare's tragedy."[116] Dmitri Shostakovich provided an epic score, its motifs including an (increasingly ironic) trumpet fanfare for Lear, and a five-bar "Call to Death" marking each character's demise.[117] Kozintzev described his vision of the film as an ensemble piece: with Lear, played by a dynamic Jüri Järvet, as first among equals in a cast of fully developed characters.[118] The film highlights Lear's role as king by including his people throughout the film on a scale no stage production could emulate, charting the central character's decline from their god to their helpless equal; his final descent into madness marked by his realisation that he has neglected the 'poor naked wretches'.[119] As the film progresses, ruthless characters – Goneril, Regan, Edmund – increasingly appear isolated in shots, in contrast to the director's focus, throughout the film, on masses of human beings.[120]

text: Jonathan Miller twice directed Michael Hordern in the title role for English television, the first for the BBC's Play of the Month in 1975 and the second for the BBC Television Shakespeare in 1982. Hordern received mixed reviews, and was considered a bold choice due to his history of taking much lighter roles.[121] Also for English television, Laurence Olivier took the role in a 1983 TV production for Granada Television. It was his last screen appearance in a Shakespearean role, its pathos deriving in part from the physical frailty of Olivier the actor.[122]

text: In 1985 a major screen adaptation of the play appeared: Ran, directed by Akira Kurosawa. At the time the most expensive Japanese film ever made, it tells the story of Hidetora, a fictional 16th-century Japanese warlord, whose attempt to divide his kingdom among his three sons leads to an estrangement with the youngest, and ultimately most loyal, of them, and eventually to civil war.[123] In contrast to the cold drab greys of Brook and Kozintsev, Kurosawa's film is full of vibrant colour: external scenes in yellows, blues and greens, interiors in browns and ambers, and Emi Wada's Oscar-winning colour-coded costumes for each family member's soldiers.[124] Hidetora has a back-story: a violent and ruthless rise to power, and the film portrays contrasting victims: the virtuous characters Sue and Tsurumaru who are able to forgive, and the vengeful Kaede (Mieko Harada), Hidetora's daughter-in-law and the film's Lady Macbeth-like villain.[125]

text: A scene in which a character is threatened with blinding in the manner of Gloucester forms the climax of the 1973 parody horror Theatre of Blood.[127] Comic use is made of Sir's inability to physically carry any actress cast as Cordelia opposite his Lear in the 1983 film of the stage play The Dresser.[128] John Boorman's 1990 Where the Heart Is features a father who disinherits his three spoilt children.[129] Francis Ford Coppola deliberately incorporated elements of Lear in his 1990 sequel The Godfather Part III, including Michael Corleone's attempt to retire from crime throwing his domain into anarchy, and most obviously the death of his daughter in his arms. Parallels have also been drawn between Andy García's character Vincent and both Edgar and Edmund, and between Talia Shire's character Connie and Kaede in Ran.[130]

text: In 1997 Jocelyn Moorhouse directed A Thousand Acres, based on Jane Smiley's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, set in 1990s Iowa.[131] The film is described, by scholar Tony Howard, as the first adaptation to confront the play's disturbing sexual dimensions.[130] The story is told from the viewpoint of the elder two daughters, Ginny played by Jessica Lange and Rose played by Michelle Pfeiffer, who were sexually abused by their father as teenagers. Their younger sister Caroline, played by Jennifer Jason Leigh had escaped this fate and is ultimately the only one to remain loyal.[132][133]

text: The play was again adapted to the world of gangsters in Don Boyd's 2001 My Kingdom, a version which differs from all others in commencing with the Lear character, Sandeman, played by Richard Harris, in a loving relationship with his wife. But her violent death marks the start of an increasingly bleak and violent chain of events (influenced by co-writer Nick Davies' documentary book Dark Heart) which in spite of the director's denial that the film had "serious parallels" to Shakespeare's play, actually mirror aspects of its plot closely.[134] Unlike Shakespeare's Lear, but like Hidetora and Sandeman, the central character of Uli Edel's 2002 American TV adaptation King of Texas, John Lear played by Patrick Stewart, has a back-story centred on his violent rise to power as the richest landowner (metaphorically a "king") in General Sam Houston's independent Texas in the early 1840s. Daniel Rosenthal comments that the film was able, by reason of having been commissioned by the cable channel TNT, to include a bleaker and more violent ending than would have been possible on the national networks.[135] 2003's Channel 4-commissioned two-parter Second Generation set the story in the world of Asian manufacturing and music in England.[136]

text: The 2006 Chinese film Curse of the Golden Flower is loosely based on King Lear, but, the plot is set in Tang Dynasty China instead of Medieval Europe.

text: In 2016, Talawa Theatre Company and Royal Exchange Manchester released a stage to screen adaptation of King Lear with Don Warrington in the title role, and also starring Alfred Enoch, Miltos Yerolemou, Philip Whitchurch, Fraser Ayres and Rakie Ayola.[137][138]

text: Carl Bessai wrote and directed a modern adaptation of King Lear titled The Lears.  Released in 2017, the film starred Bruce Dern, Anthony Michael Hall and Sean Astin.[139]

text: On 28 May 2018, BBC Two broadcast King Lear starring Anthony Hopkins in the title role and Emma Thompson as Goneril. Directed by Richard Eyre, the play featured a 21st century setting. Hopkins, at the age of 80, was deemed ideal for the role and “at home with Lear's skin” by critic Sam Wollaston.[140]

text: Radio and audio[edit]

text: The first recording of the Argo Shakespeare for Argo Records was King Lear in 1957, directed/produced by George Rylands with William Devlin in the title role, Jill Balcon as Goneril and Prunella Scales as Cordelia.[141]

text: The Shakespeare Recording Society recorded a full-length unabridged audio productions on LP in 1965 (SRS-M-232) directed by Howard Sackler, with Paul Scofield as Lear, Cyril Cusack as Gloucester. Robert Stephens as Edmund, Rachel Roberts, Pamela Brown and John Stride.

text: King Lear was broadcast live on the BBC Third Programme on 29 September 1967, starring John Gielgud, Barbara Jefford, Barbara Bolton and Virginia McKenna as Lear and his daughters.[142] At Abbey Road Studios, John Lennon used a microphone held to a radio to overdub fragments of the play (Act IV, Scene 6) onto the song "I Am the Walrus", which The Beatles were recording that evening.[143] The voices recorded were those of Mark Dignam (Gloucester), Philip Guard (Edgar) and John Bryning (Oswald).[144]

text: On 10 April 1994 in celebration of Sir John Gielgud's 90th birthday, Kenneth Branagh's Renaissance Theatre Company performed a radio adaptation directed by Glyn Dearman starring Gielgud as Lear, with Keith Michell as Kent, Richard Briers as Gloucester, Dame Judi Dench as Goneril, Emma Thompson as Cordelia, Eileen Atkins as Regan, Kenneth Branagh as Edmund, John Shrapnel as Albany, Robert Stephens as Cornwall, Denis Quilley as Burgundy, Sir Derek Jacobi as France, Iain Glen as Edgar and Michael Williams as The Fool.[145]

text: On 8 May 2016, BBC Radio 3's Drama on 3 broadcast a production directed by Gaynor Macfarlane with an all-Scottish cast featuring Ian McDiarmid as Lear, Madeleine Worrall as Goneril, Frances Grey as Regan, Joanna Vanderham as Cordelia, Michael Nardone as Kent, Bill Paterson as Gloucester, Finn den Hertog as Edgar, Paul Higgins as Edmund, Brian Vernel as The Fool, Steven Robertson as Albany and Steven Cree as Cornwall.[146]

text: In October 2017, Big Finish Productions released an audio drama adaptation directed by Barnaby Edwards as part of their "Big Finish Classics" range.  The production starred David Warner as Lear (the second time he played the role after a stage production in 2005), Louise Jameson as Goneril, Lisa Bowerman as Regan, Finty Williams as Cordelia, and Raymond Coulthard as Edmund.  Also included in the cast were Edwards and Nicholas Pegg playing multiple roles each.  The production was well-relieved and was nominated for a BBC Audio Drama Award for "Best Online or Podcast Audio Drama."[147][citation needed]

text: Opera[edit]

text: German composer Aribert Reimann's opera Lear premiered on 9 July 1978.

text: Finnish composer Aulis Sallinen's opera Kuningas Lear premiered on 15 September 2000.