'King Lear' At The Old Vic, London: 3 December 2016

Lear:

"Get thee glass eyes, 

And like a scurvy politician seem 

To see the things thou dost not." [1.] 

Fool:

"This is a brave night to cool a courtezan.

I'll speak a prophecy ere I go:

When priests are more in word than matter;

When brewers mar their malt with water;

When nobles are their tailors' tutors;

No heretics burn'd, but wenches' suitors;

When every case in law is right;

No squire in debt, nor no poor knight;

When slanders do not live in tongues;

Nor cutpurses come not to throngs;

When usurers tell their gold i' the field;

And bawds and whores do churches build;

Then shall the realm of Albion

Come to great confusion:

Then comes the time, who lives to see't,

That going shall be used with feet.

This prophecy Merlin shall make; for I live before his time." [2.]

Lear:

"When we are born, we cry that we are come 

To this great stage of fools." [3.]

All Images:  Glenda Jackson as King Lear & Rhys Ifans as The Fool in Shakespeare's 'King Lear': The Old Vic Theatre, London, 25 October - 3 December 2016.




[1.]:  William Shakespeare, 'The Tragedy Of King Lear', 1623.  Act 4: Scene 5 

[2.]:  William Shakespeare, 'The Tragedy Of King Lear', 1623.  Act 3: Scene 2

[3.]:  William Shakespeare, 'The Tragedy Of King Lear', 1623.  Act 4: Scene 5