PRODUCTION King Lear [Lier zai ci]
Data Type：production background
Title：Shakespeare's King Lear: A Synopsis
Source：King Lear Special Edition Program
Place：Taipei
Publisher：Contemporary Legend Theatre [Dangdai chuanqi juchang]
Date：2006
Language：English
Abstract：synopsis of the original King Lear
The aging King Lear decides to abdicate. He divides his kingdom among his three daughters so long as they declare publicly how much they love him.
Goneril and Regan, the two elder daughters, falsely profess their love to gain their moiety whereas Cordelia, the youngest daughter, refusing to profess blinding love to Lear, is banished by him in rage. Wronged by her father, Cordelia, along with the King of France, her fiancé, sadly heaves her beloved father.
The two elder daughters soon betray their father after they have secured their shares. As expected, the two elder daughters, having obtained all, conspire to have her old father driven out of their houses. The enraged and humiliated Lear goes insane instantly. He wanders about the heath in the raging storm, accompanied only by the Fool, Kent, the blinded Gloucester, and the unjustly exiled Edgar in disguise as a Bedlam beggar.
Cordelia, having married the King of France and learned of her father’s plight, lead the French forces back to England to rescue her neglected father. The French forces are defeated, however; and Cordelia is taken prisoner. King Lear witnesses, to his sadness, the death of his beloved Cordelia in the prison. In their fight against each other, the two elder daughters can not escape their fates of destruction. Lear does not realize Cordelia’s love for him until it is too late. Everything is destroyed because of his self-righteousness. Lear finally dies out of grief at Cordelia’s passing.
Goneril and Regan, the two elder daughters, falsely profess their love to gain their moiety whereas Cordelia, the youngest daughter, refusing to profess blinding love to Lear, is banished by him in rage. Wronged by her father, Cordelia, along with the King of France, her fiancé, sadly heaves her beloved father.
The two elder daughters soon betray their father after they have secured their shares. As expected, the two elder daughters, having obtained all, conspire to have her old father driven out of their houses. The enraged and humiliated Lear goes insane instantly. He wanders about the heath in the raging storm, accompanied only by the Fool, Kent, the blinded Gloucester, and the unjustly exiled Edgar in disguise as a Bedlam beggar.
Cordelia, having married the King of France and learned of her father’s plight, lead the French forces back to England to rescue her neglected father. The French forces are defeated, however; and Cordelia is taken prisoner. King Lear witnesses, to his sadness, the death of his beloved Cordelia in the prison. In their fight against each other, the two elder daughters can not escape their fates of destruction. Lear does not realize Cordelia’s love for him until it is too late. Everything is destroyed because of his self-righteousness. Lear finally dies out of grief at Cordelia’s passing.
