King Lear

Synopsis: Video recording of Michael Kahn’s 1999 production of King Lear for the Shakespeare Theatre Company with Ted van Griethuysen as Lear. Videotaped for WAPAVA by James J. Taylor.
Language: English
Country: United States
Medium: Video
Technical information: Colour / Sound
Recording date: 10 Oct 1999

Theatre: Lansburgh, Washington DC
Theatre company: Shakespeare Theatre Company
Production type: Stage Recordings
Historical period: 1990s
Plays: King Lear
Subjects: Drama
Keywords: deaf persons; sign languages; Shakespeare, William; American sign language

General: The role of Cordelia was played by deaf actress Monique Holt. Cordelia (who can lip read) signs most of her lines
and they are spoken aloud by others, although she does speak the line "I am" when Lear recognises her after his madness).
History: Produced by the Shakespeare Theatre at the Lansburgh, Washington, DC, 31 August-24 October 1999; and at the Shakespeare Free for All at the Carter Barron Amphitheatre, Washington, DC, June 2001.
Reviews: Horwitz, Jane. Washington Post 5 October 1999, p. C5 (interview with Michael Kahn).

Ted Van Griethuysen	Lear
Monique Holt	Cordelia
David Sabin	Earl of Gloucester
Floyd King	Fool
Cameron Folmar	Edgar, later disguised as Tom o’Bedlam
Andrew Long	Edmund
Christopher Wilson	Duke of Burgundy
David DeBesse	King of France
Henry Woronicz	Earl of Kent
Jennifer Harmon	Regan
Patrick Ellison Shea	Oswald
Ralph Cosham	Duke of Cornwall
Tana Hicken	Goneril
William Whitehead	Duke of Albany

SHAKESPEARE