Good afternoon and welcome cast and crew to the Globe's latest production of King Lear. What is tragedy? The Greek philosopher Aristotle summarised tragedy as a fatal flaw causing an important person to fall from happiness and prosperity in to catastrophe resulting in the hero moving from ignorance to knowledge and rousing a spectrum of emotions from spectators. In this production of King Lear I wish to underscore this movement from ignorance to knowledge by …showed first 75 words of 555 total…

…showed last 75 words of 555 total…to Lear. The setting would be minimal and black with possibly projected clouds in the background. Lear would initially be dressed in black royal attire made from expensive material that was wet and torn suggesting his changing image. As he later tares off his clothes during the storm to become "unaccommodated man" he would reveal white under garments, symbolising Lear's transformation from a materialistic, ignorant king to a simple, elemental man at one with nature.