Did you know...? - Directors of King Lear have two versions of
the text to work with: the Folio and the Quarto (read more). In
the Quarto, the final words of the play are given to Goneril's
husband, the Duke of Albany, but the editors of the First Folio
chose to have them spoken by Edgar. - Shakespeare drew on a
number of sources (read more) to write King Lear, but every
version except his ends happily. - Nahum Tate, who was appointed
Poet Laureate in 1642, re-wrote a number of Shakespeare's plays
to provide them with happy endings. In his 1681 version of King
Lear, Cordelia survived to marry Edgar, caring for her elderly
father until his death. This became the preferred version until
Shakespeare's original was revived by 1838 with famous actor
Charles McCready as Lear. McCready reintroduced the role of the
Fool (cut by Tate as too frivolous) and played for the first
time by a woman. The 2010 RSC production also has a woman,
Kathryn Hunter, in this role (see photo). - King George III
suffered bouts of insanit