Chichester Festival Theatre’s production of Shakespeare’s King Lear will be transferring to the West End this July and will star Sir Ian McKellen in the title role.
The play will stage 100 performances at the Duke of York’s Theatre in London from 11th July until 3rd November. Tickets are now on sale.
The ensemble of actors will include Ian McKellen as King Lear, returning to the Duke of York’s Theatre where he made his West End debut in the 1964 production of A Scent of Flowers.
McKellen has enjoyed a career on stage and screen, inhabiting some of Shakespeare’s most iconic roles including Hamlet, Macbeth, Iago, Richard II and III as well as in previous productions of King Lear as Edgar, Kent and in the title role.
Full casting for the West End production of King Lear, directed by Jonathan Munby, will be announced in due course.
Synopsis: King Lear
Two ageing fathers - one a King, one his courtier - reject the children who truly love them. Their blindness unleashes a tornado of pitiless ambition and treachery as family and state are plunged into a violent power struggle with shocking ends.
Tender, brutal, moving and epic, King Lear is considered by many to be the greatest tragedy ever written.
Director Jonathan Munby’s credits include his new production of Bryony Lavery’s Frozen in the West End; First Light for Chichester Festival Theatre; All the Angels, The Merchant of Venice and Antony and Cleopatra for Shakespeare’s Globe; and Wendy & Peter Pan for the RSC.
Group information
Group tickets are available through ATG Tickets and group organisers can also contact the Duke of York’s Theatre on 020 7206 1174.
For more information, visit www.kinglearwestend.com.
Image credit: Manuel Harlan.
