Paul Prescott Archives - The Play Podcast

070 – King Lear, by William Shakespeare

by Douglas Schatz | Nov 17, 2023 | Podcast Episodes

Sir Kenneth Branagh as King Lear
Wyndham’s Theatre, London
November 2023
Photo by Johan Persson

070 – King Lear, by William Shakespeare

In our new episode we tackle William Shakespeare’s monumental tragedy King Lear, a play that the poet Shelley called “the most perfect specimen of the dramatic art existing in the world”. Shakespeare probably wrote King Lear in 1605-06. The first recorded performance of the play was at the court of James I in the Great Chamber in Whitehall, on Saint Stephen’s Day (or what we know as Boxing Day) in December 1606. That must have been cheery festive fare for the relatively new King James and the select audience of 300 who saw it. In fact, the play’s dark story proved too bleak for many, as for 150 years from the late 17th century on it was only presented in a corrupted version which inserted a happy ending in which King Lear and his daughter Cordelia survive.

Since 1838 when the original version of the play reasserted itself, the towering role of Lear himself has been assailed by every generation of leading actor. As we record this episode a new production directed by and starring Sir Kenneth Branagh arrives in London’s West End. Branagh is of course no stranger to Shakespeare, having directed and starred in five film adaptations, as well as numerous stage performances.

I have to confess to being not a little daunted to be taking on an examination of this immense play that has been the subject of centuries of critical study. It’s a prodigious play in every sense. There are ten major roles, it has multiple significant plot lines, an elemental stormy setting, intense domestic conflict, and acts of war and violence which roll on with a propulsive tragic energy and conjure a challenging philosophical vision.

So I’m very pleased to be able to be joined by a properly qualified Shakespearean analyst. He is Paul Prescott, an academic, writer and theatre practitioner who has held positions at the University of Warwick and California. He has authored several books on Shakespeare, and is the co-founder of the annual festival ‘Shakespeare in Yosemite’ in Yosemite National Park in California.

Here are our other episodes on Shakespeare’s plays:
064 – A Midsummer Night’s Dream
048 – Much Ado About Nothing
038 – Macbeth
036 – Hamlet
005 – The Tempest

Paul Prescott

Paul Prescott is an academic, writer and theatre practitioner who has held positions at the University of Warwick and California. He has acted, adapted and taught Shakespeare in a range of countries and contexts, and authored books including the Arden Performance Edition of Othello (2018); Reviewing Shakespeare (Cambridge, 2013); and co–edited, Shakespeare on European Festival Stages (Arden, 2022), Shakespeare on the Global Stage (Arden, 2015) and A Year of Shakespeare (Arden, 2013).

He is also the co-founder of the annual festival ‘Shakespeare in Yosemite’ in Yosemite National Park, in California, and has adapted many of Shakespeare’s plays for a range of professional companies, including the National Theatre.

Recommended Play

Paul recommended Corialanus by William Shakespeare.

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115 – The Dance of Death by August Strindberg

Oct 6, 2026 | Podcast Episodes

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August Strindberg’s The Dance of Death is set in a remote army base on the coast of Sweden, where an army captain and his wife are trapped together in an unhappy marriage. The captain, bitter at his lack of promotion, and his wife, frustrated at having been forced to give up her career as an actress, occupy their empty hours tearing into each other in a brutal dance of mutual cruelty.

Strindberg’s scorching portrait of marital strife was written in 1900, but has had a lasting influence. Arthur Miller dubbed Strindberg, “the mad inventor of modern theatre”, and echoes of his unflinching dissection of marital discord can be seen in the plays of Edward Albee, Tennessee Williams, Eugene O’Neill, and John Osborne.

Sir Richard Eyre adapted and directed a wonderful production of Dance of Death at the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond upon Thames earlier this year, and I am delighted that Sir Richard joins me in this episode to guide us through Strindberg’s blistering onslaught on marriage.

114 – Love’s Labour’s Lost by William Shakespeare

Sep 22, 2026 | Podcast Episodes

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William Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost is described on the title page in the first publication of its text in 1598 as “A Pleasant Conceited Comedie.” I imagine that the epithets were intended to highlight the play’s courtly aesthetic, its frothy merry-go-round of courtship, and above all perhaps, its ostentatiously intricate word play. For it is a play rich in the love and perils of language.

I am joined to assay Shakespeare’s conceited comedy by the Artistic Director of the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond upon Thames, Tom Littler. In the summer of 2026 Tom adapted and directed a magical double bill of Shakespeare, producing Love’s Labour’s Lost and Much Ado About Nothing in repertory, and staging them both ‘en plein air’.

113 – Arcadia by Tom Stoppard

Aug 24, 2026 | Podcast Episodes

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Tom Stoppard’s 1993 play, Arcadia, is viewed by many as his finest play, renowned for the breadth of its intellectual interrogations and its formal invention. The play is a structural masterpiece of ideas, as well as a teasing detective story, joyous comedy, and emotionally rich exploration of love and loss.

As we record this episode a wonderful new production of Arcadia is playing at the Duke of York’s theatre in London’s West End, following its acclaimed run at the Old Vic theatre earlier this year. I am delighted to share the challenge and the pleasure of exploring Stoppard’s dazzling drama with the director of the new production, Carrie Cracknell.