PREFACE. This version of Shakespeare's tragedy, King Lear, has been made for practical use on the stage, the play being necessarily reduced to reasonable length to suit the exigencies of the present time. In the curtailment, all superfluous horrors have been omitted. As the period of King Lear is fabulous, I have chosen, at the suggestion of Mr. Ford Madox Brown (who has kindly designed three scenes in the First and Second Acts), a time shortly after the departure of the Romans, when the Britons wquld naturally inhabit the houses left vacant. HENRY IRVING. DRAMATIS PERSONÆ. LEAR ... (King of Britain) Mr. IRVING. Mr. PERCIVAL. Mr. Bond. Duke of Cornwall Mr. HAGUE. Duke of Albany Mr. Tyars. Earl of Kent ... Mr. HOLLOWAY. Earl of Gloster Mr. ALFRED BISHOP. EDGAR ... (son to Gloster) Mr. WILLIAM TERRISS. EDMUND ... (bastard son to Gloster) ... Mr. FRANK COOPER. CURAN ... (a courtier) ... Mr. HARVEY. Old Man ... (tenant to Gloster) ... Mr. Howe. Fool ... ... ... •-• Mr. HAVILAND. OSWALD ... (steward to Goneril)... Mr. GORDON CRAIG. Physician ... .. Mr. Lacy. An Officer Mr. LORRISS. A Gentleman ... ... Mr. Ian Robertson. • A Messenger Mr. POWELL. A Herald Mr. BelmoRE. A Knight ... Mr. TaBB. Goneril, wife to Albany) Miss Ada Dyas. Regan, wife to Cornwall (daughters Miss MAUD Milton. i to Lear and Cordelia .... ...] (... Miss Ellen Terry. Knights attending or LEAR, Oficers, Messengers, Soldiers, and Attendants. SYNOPSIS OF SCENERY. Act I. SCENE 1.-King Lear's Palace ... SCENE 2. -Earl of Gloster's Castle SCENE 3.—Duke of Albany's Castie 7. Harker. 7. Harker. 7. Haykır. ... ... ... Act II. Act III. Hawes Craver. Hawes Craven. ... Hawes Craven. Act IV. SCENE 1.-Albany's Castle ... SCENE 2.-Open Country ... ... SCENE 3.—Country near Dover ... SCENE 4.--French Camp ... ... SCENE 5.-Tent in the French Camp .. 7. Harker. Hawes Craven. Hawes Craven. Hawes Craveni. Hawes Craven. Act V. SCENE 1.–British Camp near Dover Scene 2.—The same ... ... SCENE.-BRITAIN. |