William Shakespeare’s King Lear is this month’s presentation in National Theatre Live, a series of enthralling live performances from London’s most prestigious theatres, broadcast onto cinema screens globally.  

Academy Award® winner Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Revolutionary Road) returns to the National Theatre to direct Simon Russell Beale (Timon of Athens, Collaborators) in the title role of Shakespeare’s enduring tragedy.  At the play’s outset, an aged and vainglorious king decides to divide his kingdom between his three daughters, according to which of them is most eloquent in praising him. When his favourite, Cordelia refuses to participate and says nothing, Lear’s precarious world quickly descends into chaos.

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Daily Express, Evening Standard, Metro

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Daily Telegraph, Guardian, Independent, Mail on Sunday, Observer, The Times, Time Out

Presented by the IFI in association with Dublin Theatre Festival. Tickets cost €15. Tickets must be collected by 18.45, with the live performance starting strictly at 19.00.