DATE AND VENUE

21.05.1997, 20.30
22, 23.05.1997, 19.30
Hagia Eirene Museum

ROYAL NATIONAL THEATRE

• Written by: William Shakespeare
• Directed by: Richard Eyre

In London, Royal National Theatre’s “King Lear”, which opened at the Cottesloe, has been the most talked about play of 1997 so far. That this production, hailed by a shower of praises reaches Turkish audiences through the Festival is, in itself, an exceptional event. This “King Lear” in which the king is played by by famed actor Ian Holm, is already being named as “the best Lear interpretation of this century”. The play which evolves around the tragic story of the legendary King Lear and his three daughters, is one of Shakespeare’s masterworks. Perhaps the most pertinent thing to be said about it, is, in the words of Michael Ignatieff: “Asking what Lear is about is like asking what life is about...” It is the tale of how the aged Lear discovers -or sees- the meaning and secret of life only after losing everything he owns and going blind... A great playwright, a great theatre company, a great director and a great actor. To be staged in the unrivalled atmosphere of the Hagia Eirene, the play is not to be missed.