About the Book:

Rare book, very limited quantities available

Shakespeare's Globe is proving to be one of the great success stories in the theatre world. As well as Shakespeare, its programme includes plays by many of his contemporaries. In fact, for every play by Shakespeare there are over ten surviving plays by other writers from the same era. A selection of these plays have been brought back into print as Globe Quartos. These non-Shakespearean plays of the English Renaissance are being rediscovered and revived with great success at Shakespeare's Globe both in full production and in staged readings.

Shakespeare's magnificent tragedy King Lear tells the story of an aging king who divides his kingdom between two daughters but leaves out the third, failing to understand that she loves him most of all. His mistake triggers a chain of lies and betrayal and dooms him to madness. Performed at the Globe Theater in 1605, King Leir is presumed to be a prime source for Shakespeare. Although this play tells the same story as King Lear, in this anonymous version the ending is happy, with Cordella marrying the King of France, reconciling with her father, and reclaiming the crown of England from Gonorill and Ragan. This is the first time this fascinating work is published in a single-play edition.

About the Author:

Tiffany Stern is Professor of Early Modern Drama at Oxford University and the Beaverbrook and Bouverie Fellow and Tutor in English Literature at University College, Oxford. She specialises in Shakespeare, theatre history from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century, book history and editing.