L E

A R
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Created by Noah Witke

Based on

King Lear by William Shakespeare

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Cast

Lear, King of Britain Arthur Anderson

Goneril, Lear’s Eldest Daughter Libby Belitsos

Regan, Lear’s Middle Daughter Nora Dillon

Cordelia, Lear’s Youngest Daughter Karli Robertson

Lear’s Fool Zak Kline

Edmund, Bastard Child of Gloucester Sylvan Williams

Edgar, Son of Gloucester, Disguised as Poor Tom Justin Murray

Earl of Kent, Lear’s Aide Willa Lane

King of France, Suitor to Cordelia James Pacheco

Duke of Burgundy, Suitor to Cordelia Kyley Sullivan

Earl of Gloucester Camille Cheney

Duke of Albany, Husband of Goneril Forrest Spencer

Duke of Cornwall, Husband of Regan Nate Morris

Oswald, A Servant and Camera Operator Kate McKay

Curan, A Servant and Camera Operator Ruby Singer

Gentleman/First Servant Eloise Kline

Second Servant/Doctor Delanee Hill

Third Servant/Messenger Norah Ryan

Old Man Jordon Allen Blow

Captain Christian Stridsberg

Knight/Herald Bailey Morse

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Prologue

The Theater is dark. The curtains are drawn.

EDGAR, disguised as Poor Tom, enters from the back of the theater. As he speaks he wanders through
the audience.

EDGAR

Tom's a-cold

Poor Tom's a-cold.

Fathom and half, fathom and half! Poor Tom!

Away! the foul fiend follows me!

Through the sharp hawthorn blows the cold wind.
Hum! go to thy cold bed, and warm thee.

Who gives any thing to poor Tom? whom the foul

fiend hath led through fire and through flame, and
through ford and whirlipool e'er bog and quagmire;
that hath laid knives under his pillow, and halters
in his pew; set ratsbane by his porridge; made film
proud of heart, to ride on a bay trotting-horse over
four-inched bridges, to course his own shadow for a
traitor. Bless thy five wits! Tom's a-cold,--O, do
de, do de, do de. Bless thee from whirlwinds,
star-blasting, and taking! Do poor Tom some
charity, whom the foul fiend vexes: there could I
have him now,--and there,--and there again, and there.

This is the foul fiend Flibbertigibbet: he begins

at curfew, and walks till the first cock; he gives
the web and the pin, squints the eye, and makes the
hare-lip; mildews the white wheat, and hurts the
poor creature of earth.
S. Withold footed thrice the old;
He met the night-mare, and her nine-fold;
Bid her alight,
And her troth plight,
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And, aroint thee, witch, aroint thee!

Pillicock sat on Pillicock-hill:

Halloo, halloo, loo, loo!

The foul fiend bites my back.

The prince of darkness is a gentleman:

Modo he's call'd, and Mahu.
Frateretto calls me; and tells me
Nero is an angler in the lake of darkness.
Pray, innocent, and beware the foul fiend.

Avaunt, you curs!

Be thy mouth or black or white,
Tooth that poisons if it bite;
Mastiff, grey-hound, mongrel grim,
Hound or spaniel, brach or lym,
Or bobtail tike or trundle-tail,
Tom will make them weep and wail:
For, with throwing thus my head,
Dogs leap the hatch, and all are fled.
Do de, de, de. Sessa! Come, march to wakes and
fairs and market-towns. Poor Tom, thy horn is dry.

Tom’s a-cold.

1. If at his counsel I should turn aside Into that ominous tract which, all agree, Hides the Dark Tower
2. As when a sick man very near to death Seems dead indeed, and feels begin and end
3. Alive? he might be dead for aught I know, With that red, gaunt and collop’d neck a-strain
4. This might have been a bath For the fiend’s glowing hoof—to see the wrath Of its black eddy
5. good saints, how I fear’d To set my foot upon a dead man’s cheek,
6. a distorted mouth that splits its rim Gaping at death, and dies while it recoils
7. Burningly it came on me all at once, This was the place!

Poor Tom; that eats the swimming frog, the toad,

the tadpole, the wall-newt and the water; that in
the fury of his heart, when the foul fiend rages,
eats cow-dung for sallets; swallows the old rat and
the ditch-dog; drinks the green mantle of the
standing pool; who is whipped from tithing to
tithing, and stock- punished, and imprisoned; who
hath had three suits to his back, six shirts to his
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body, horse to ride, and weapon to wear;
But mice and rats, and such small deer,
Have been Tom's food for seven long year.
Beware my follower. Peace, Smulkin; peace, thou fiend!

Fathom and half, fathom and half! Poor Tom!

Pillicock sat on Pillicock-hill:

Halloo, halloo, loo, loo!

The foul fiend haunts poor Tom in the voice of a

nightingale. Hopdance cries in Tom's belly for two
white herring. Croak not, black angel; I have no
food for thee.

Child Rowland to the dark tower came,

His word was still,

--Fie, foh, and fum,

I smell the blood of a British man.

The curtain opens and Edgar slips away.

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Scene 1​:​ Cordelia is Exiled

The stage is revealed:

On each side there is a vertical blindingly white fluorescent light.

There is a huge mask, whose face is grotesque, with blind milky white eyes.

Fool
LEAR:
A tragedy,
In which a great and powerful king exiles one daughter,
Gives his kingdom to two,
Is thrown out into a storm,
And breaks into a thousand pieces.

This is a story about how he loses things:

His kingdom,
His mind,
His daughters,
And eventually, and unsurprisingly, his life.

Suddenly, out from the folds of fabric surrounding the mask, Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia, come spilling,
followed by Cornwall, Albany, Gloucester, Kent, Edmund, servants and attendants.

KING LEAR
Meantime we shall express our darker purpose:
Know that we have divided
In three our kingdom: and 'tis our fast intent
To shake all cares and business from our age;
Conferring them on younger strengths, while we
Unburthen'd crawl toward death.
We have this hour a constant will to publish
Our daughters' several dowers. Tell me, my daughters,--
Which of you shall we say doth love us most?
That we our largest bounty may extend
Where nature doth with merit challenge. Goneril,
Our eldest-born, speak first.
GONERIL
Sir, I love you more than words can wield the matter;
Dearer than eye-sight, space, and liberty;
Beyond what can be valued, rich or rare;
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No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honour;
As much as child e'er loved, or father found;
A love that makes breath poor, and speech unable;
Beyond all manner of so much I love you.
CORDELIA
[Aside] What shall Cordelia do?
Love, and be silent.
LEAR
Of all these bounds, even from this line to this,
With shadowy forests and with champains rich'd,
With plenteous rivers and wide-skirted meads,
We make thee lady.
What says our second daughter, Our dearest Regan?
Speak.
REGAN
Sir, I am made
Of the self-same metal that my sister is,
And prize me at her worth. In my true heart
I find she names my very deed of love;
Only she comes too short: that I profess
Myself an enemy to all other joys,
Which the most precious square of sense possesses;
And find I am alone felicitate
In your dear highness' love.
CORDELIA
[Aside] Then poor Cordelia!
And yet not so; since, I am sure, my love's
More richer than my tongue.
KING LEAR
To thee and thine hereditary ever
Remain this ample third of our fair kingdom;
No less in space, validity, and pleasure,
Than that conferr'd on Goneril. Now, our joy,
Although the last, not least; what can you say to draw
A third more opulent than your sisters? Speak.
CORDELIA
Nothing, my lord.
KING LEAR
Nothing?
CORDELIA
Nothing.
KING LEAR
Nothing will come of nothing: speak again.
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CORDELIA
Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave
My heart into my mouth: I love your majesty
According to my bond; nor more nor less.
KING LEAR
How, how, Cordelia! mend your speech a little,
Lest it may mar your fortunes.
CORDELIA
Good my lord,
You have begot me, bred me, loved me: I
Return those duties back as are right fit,
Obey you, love you, and most honour you.
Why have my sisters husbands, if they say
They love you all? Haply, when I shall wed,
That lord whose hand must take my plight shall carry
Half my love with him, half my care and duty:
Sure, I shall never marry like my sisters,
To love my father all.
KING LEAR
But goes thy heart with this?
CORDELIA
Ay, good my lord.
KING LEAR
So young, and so untender?
CORDELIA
So young, my lord, and true.
KING LEAR
Let it be so; thy truth, then, be thy dower:
For, by the sacred radiance of the sun,
The mysteries of Hecate, and the night;
Here I disclaim all my paternal care,
And as a stranger to my heart and me
Hold thee, from this, for ever. The barbarous Scythian,
Or he that makes his generation messes
To gorge his appetite, shall to my bosom
Be as well neighbour'd, pitied, and relieved,
As thou my sometime daughter.
KENT
Good my liege,--
KING LEAR
Peace, Kent!
Come not between the dragon and his wrath.
I loved her most, and thought to set my rest
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On her kind nursery. Hence, and avoid my sight!
With my two daughters' dowers digest this third:
Let pride, which she calls plainness, marry her.
The princes, France and Burgundy,
Great rivals in our youngest daughter's love,
Long in our court have made their amorous sojourn,
And here are to be answer'd.
Enter FRANCE and BURGUNDY
My lord of Burgundy.
We first address towards you: what, in the least,
Will you require in present dower with her,
Or cease your quest of love?
BURGUNDY
Most royal majesty,
I crave no more than what your highness offer'd,
Nor will you tender less.
KING LEAR
Right noble Burgundy,
When she was dear to us, we did hold her so;
But now her price is fall'n.
Will you, with those infirmities she owes,
Unfriended, new-adopted to our hate,
Dower'd with our curse, and stranger'd with our oath,
Take her, or leave her?
BURGUNDY
I know no answer.
Election makes not up on such conditions.
KING OF FRANCE
My lord of Burgundy,
What say you to the lady? Love's not love
When it is mingled with regards that stand
Aloof from the entire point. Will you have her?
She is herself a dowry.
BURGUNDY
Royal Lear,
Give but that portion which yourself proposed,
And here I take Cordelia by the hand,
Duchess of Burgundy.
KING LEAR
Nothing: I have sworn; I am firm.
BURGUNDY
I am sorry, then, you have so lost a father
That you must lose a husband.
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CORDELIA
Peace be with Burgundy!
Since that respects of fortune are his love,
I shall not be his wife.
I yet beseech your majesty,--
If for I want that glib and oily art,
To speak and purpose not; since what I well intend,
I'll do't before I speak,--that you make known
It is no vicious blot, murder, or foulness,
No unchaste action, or dishonour'd step,
That hath deprived me of your grace and favour;
But even for want of that for which I am richer,
A still-soliciting eye, and such a tongue
As I am glad I have not, though not to have it
Hath lost me in your liking.
KING LEAR
Better thou
Hadst not been born than not to have pleased me better.
KING OF FRANCE
Fairest Cordelia, that art most rich, being poor;
Most choice, forsaken; and most loved, despised!
Thy dowerless daughter, king, thrown to my chance,
Is queen of us, of ours, and our fair France:
KING LEAR
Thou hast her, France: let her be thine; for we
Have no such daughter, nor shall ever see
That face of hers again. Therefore be gone
Without our grace, our love, our benison.
KING OF FRANCE
Bid farewell to your sisters.
CORDELIA
The jewels of our father, with wash'd eyes
Cordelia leaves you: I know you what you are;
And like a sister am most loath to call
Your faults as they are named. Use well our father:
To your professed bosoms I commit him
But yet, alas, stood I within his grace,
I would prefer him to a better place.
So, farewell to you both.
REGAN
Prescribe not us our duties.
GONERIL
Let your study
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Be to content your lord, who hath received you
At fortune's alms. You have obedience scanted,
And well are worth the want that you have wanted.
CORDELIA
Time shall unfold what plaited cunning hides:
Who cover faults, at last shame them derides.
Well may you prosper!
KING OF FRANCE
Come, my fair Cordelia.
Exeunt KING OF FRANCE and CORDELIA
GONERIL
You see how full of changes his age is; the
observation we have made of it hath not been
little: he always loved our sister most; and
with what poor judgment he hath now cast her off
appears too grossly.
REGAN
'Tis the infirmity of his age: yet he hath ever
but slenderly known himself.
GONERIL
The best and soundest of his time hath been but
rash; then must we look to receive from his age,
not alone the imperfections of long-engraffed
condition, but therewithal the unruly waywardness
that infirm and choleric years bring with them.
REGAN
Pray you, let's hit
together: if our father carry authority with
such dispositions as he bears, this last
surrender of his will but offend us.
GONERIL
We must do something, and i' the heat.
Exeunt
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Scene 2​: ​Lear is Thrown Out.

Goneril and Regan freeze.

Fool
And so, having exiled Cordelia
and given the keys to the kingdom to
Goneril and Regan, Lear - and
his band of 100 knights - drink and celebrate,
late into the night.
The puppet splits down the center, and Lear steps down.
But soft, here Goneril will intervene:
They unfreeze
GONERIL
Not only, sir, this your all-licensed fool,
But other of your insolent retinue
Do hourly carp and quarrel;
Here do you keep a hundred knights and squires;
Men so disorder'd, so debosh'd and bold,
That this our court, infected with their manners,
Shows like a riotous inn: epicurism and lust
Make it more like a tavern or a brothel
Than a graced palace.
KING LEAR
Detested kite! thou liest.
My train are men of choice and rarest parts.
GONERIL
As you are old and reverend, you should be wise.
KING LEAR
Are you our daughter?
GONERIL
'Tis politic and safe to let you keep
At point a hundred knights: yes, that, on every dream,
Each buzz, each fancy, each complaint, dislike,
You may enguard your dotage with their powers,
And hold our lives in mercy.
Fool
Snaps
And with that Goneril dismisses half Lear’s train,
Where once there were a hundred only fifty remain.
KING LEAR
I can scarce speak to thee; thou'lt not believe
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With how depraved a quality--O Regan!
Beloved Regan,
Thy sister's naught: O Regan, she hath tied
Sharp-tooth'd unkindness, like a vulture, here.
Points to his heart
REGAN
I cannot think my sister in the least
Would fail her obligation: if, sir, perchance
She have restrain'd the riots of your followers,
'Tis on such ground, and to such wholesome end,
As clears her from all blame.
KING LEAR
My curses on her!
REGAN
O, sir, you are old. Therefore, I pray you,
That to our sister you do make return;
And ask of her forgiveness.
KING LEAR
Ask her forgiveness?
You nimble lightnings, dart your blinding flames
Into her scornful eyes! Infect her beauty,
You fen-suck'd fogs, drawn by the powerful sun,
To fall and blast her pride!
REGAN
O the blest gods! so will you wish on me,
When the rash mood is on.
KING LEAR
No, Regan, thou shalt never have my curse:
Thy tender-hefted nature shall not give
Thee o'er to harshness: her eyes are fierce; but thine
Do comfort and not burn.
Art not ashamed to look upon this beard?
O Regan, wilt thou take her by the hand?
GONERIL
Why not by the hand, sir?
Might not you, my lord, receive attendance
From those that she calls servants or from mine?
REGAN
Why not, my lord? If then they chanced to slack you,
We could control them. If you will come to me,--
For now I spy a danger,--I entreat you
To bring but five and twenty: to no more
Will I give place or notice.
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KING LEAR
I gave you all--
REGAN
And in good time you gave it.
KING LEAR
Made you my guardians, my depositaries;
But kept a reservation to be follow'd
With such a number. What, must I come to you
With five and twenty, Regan? said you so?
REGAN
And speak't again, my lord; no more with me.
KING LEAR
Those wicked creatures yet do look well-favour'd,
When others are more wicked: not being the worst
Stands in some rank of praise.
To GONERIL
I'll go with thee, Goneril:
Thy fifty yet doth double five and twenty,
And thou art twice her love.
GONERIL
Hear me, my lord;
What need you five and twenty, ten, or five,
To follow in a house where twice so many
Have a command to tend you?
REGAN
What need onee?
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Scene 3​: ​Storm

The four lights position themselves onto the corners of the platform, upon which Lear stands.

Loud music and storm sounds begin. It thumps like a dance club, but is violent, and draws from classical
compositions.

The lights flash in time with the music.

Bodies fill the stage below Lear, yelling and screaming, somewhere in between pain and ecstasy.

Throughout, Lear’s kingly regalia, and the puppet are sripped away, and he is left with nothing but pale
tattered underclothes.

There is a dance as Lear begins to rail against the storm.

LEAR

O, reason not the need.

You heavens, give me that patience, patience I need!

You see me here, you gods, a poor old man,
As full of grief as age; wretched in both!

Our basest beggars

Are in the poorest thing superfluous:
Allow not nature more than nature needs,
Man's life's as cheap as beast's: thou art a lady;
If only to go warm were gorgeous,
Why, nature needs not what thou gorgeous wear'st,
Which scarcely keeps thee warm.

You think I'll weep No, I'll not weep:

I have full cause of weeping; but this heart
Shall break into a hundred thousand flaws,
Or ere I'll weep.

I will not trouble thee, my child; farewell:

We'll no more meet, no more see one another:
But yet thou art my flesh, my blood, my daughter;
Or rather a disease that's in my flesh,
Which I must needs call mine: thou art a boil,
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A plague-sore, an embossed carbuncle,
In my corrupted blood.

Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow!

You cataracts and hurricanoes, spout
Till you have drench'd our steeples, drown'd the cocks!

If it be you that stir these daughters' hearts

Against their father, fool me not so much
To bear it tamely; touch me with noble anger,
And let not women's weapons, water-drops,
Stain my man's cheeks!

No, you unnatural hags,

I will have such revenges on you both,
That all the world shall--I will do such things,--
What they are, yet I know not: but they shall be
The terrors of the earth.

I am a man
More sinn'd against than sinning.

But I will punish home:

No, I will weep no more. In such a night
To shut me out! Pour on; I will endure.
Blow, winds! rage! Blow!

When we are born, we cry that we are come

To this great stage of fools: They flattered
me like a dog; and told me I had white hairs in my
beard ere the black ones were there. To say 'ay'
and 'no' to every thing that I said!--'Ay' and 'no'
too was no good divinity. When the rain came to
wet me once, and the wind to make me chatter; when
the thunder would not peace at my bidding; there I
found 'em, there I smelt 'em out. Go to, they are
not men o' their words: they told me I was every
thing; 'tis a lie, I am not ague-proof.

Let the great gods,

That keep this dreadful pother o'er our heads,
Find out their enemies now.
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You sulphurous and thought-executing fires,
Vaunt-couriers to oak-cleaving thunderbolts,
Singe my white head!

And thou, all-shaking thunder,

Smite flat the thick rotundity o' the world!

Crack nature's moulds, an germens spill at once,

That make ingrateful man!

Rumble thy bellyful! Spit, fire! spout, rain!

Nor rain, wind, thunder, fire, are my daughters:

I tax not you, you elements, with unkindness;
I never gave you kingdom, call'd you children,
You owe me no subscription: then let fall
Your horrible pleasure: here I stand, your slave,
A poor, infirm, weak, and despised old man:
But yet I call you servile ministers,
That have with two pernicious daughters join'd
Your high engender'd battles 'gainst a head
So old and white as this. O! O! 'tis foul!

The tempest in my mind

Doth from my senses take all feeling else
Save what beats there. Filial ingratitude!
Is it not as this mouth should tear this hand
For lifting food to't?
In such a night as this!

O Regan, Goneril!
Your old kind father, whose frank heart gave all,--
O, that way madness lies; let me shun that;
No more of that.
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Scene 4​: ​Edmund’s Duets

The stage is bare of bodies but the Fool and Lear.

Tenderly, the fool bedecks Lear in flowers.

Fool
Dost thou know the difference, my boy, between a
bitter fool and a sweet fool?
KING LEAR
No, lad; teach me.
Fool
That lord that counsell'd thee
To give away thy land,
Come place him here by me,
Do thou for him stand:
The sweet and bitter fool
Will presently appear;
The one in motley here,
The other found out there.
KING LEAR
Dost thou call me fool?
Fool
All thy other titles thou hast given away; that
thou wast born with. Give me an egg,
nuncle, and I'll give thee two crowns.
KING LEAR
What two crowns shall they be?
Fool
Why, after I have cut the egg i' the middle, and eat
up the meat, the two crowns of the egg. When thou
clovest thy crown i' the middle, and gavest away
both parts, thou borest thy ass on thy back o'er
the dirt: thou hadst little wit in thy bald crown,
when thou gavest thy golden one away.
Singing
Fools had ne'er less wit in a year;
For wise men are grown foppish,
They know not how their wits to wear,
Their manners are so apish.
KING LEAR
When were you wont to be so full of songs, sirrah?
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Fool
I have used it, nuncle, ever since thou madest thy
daughters thy mothers: for when thou gavest them
the rod, and put'st down thine own breeches,
Singing
Then they for sudden joy did weep,
And I for sorrow sung,
That such a king should play bo-peep,
And go the fools among.

It pushes Lear off stage.

There goes
Lear’s shadow.

Edmund appears.

Here Edmund enters:

The bastard daughter of a duke,
(and you’re right, you haven't seen her before,
But because we’re under a time constraint,
Some parts of the plot were removed,
But that’s what I’m here for now:
To fill you in.)
So Edmund--
In a bid for power,
Has sent his brother
Into hiding.
(You’d remember him
From the beginning:
Poor Tom’s a-cold.)

And Edmund,
To secure her place,
Plans to marry into more power,
A gold digger if you will.

And who has more power

Than a princesses?

The only question is:

Which Princess?
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The Fool begins some music as Goneril enters.

Edmund dances with her, seducing her.

Regan enters and Edmund seduces her as well

Goneril watches, jealous.

EDMUND
To both these sisters have I sworn my love;
Each jealous of the other, as the stung
Are of the adder. Which of them shall I take?
Both? one? or neither? To take Regan
Exasperates, makes mad her sister Goneril.
Neither can be enjoy'd, If both remain alive.

Goneril and Regan dance in unison, Edmund looks at them both.

They watch as watch as Cordelia Enters.

Fool
And here comes sweet Cordelia,
Returning from France,
To save her father,
Poor Cordelia,
She doesn’t know she’s in a tragedy.

Edmund and Cordelia dance, ending in Cordelia being lifted offstage.

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Scene 5: ​Finale
Edmund returns and kisses Regan.

A servant enters, bearing three cups.

Goneril spits into Regan’s without her knowing.

All three drink.

Gloucester appears in front of the last, wearing a bloody blindfold, carrying a sword and a set of scales,
she raises her scales.

One by one Regan, Edmund, and Goneril, are lit by sickly green light, and, clutching their throats, sink to
the ground. Poisoned.

Fool
There is some justice in this play I guess, even if comes in the form of death.
I died too by the way.
Hung.
It doesn’t make me feel any better that they’re all dead if I’m dead too.

Many bodies enter, they survey the dead.

Lear enters, carrying Cordelia’s body.

KING LEAR
Howl, howl, howl, howl! O, you are men of stones:
Had I your tongues and eyes, I'ld use them so
That heaven's vault should crack. She's gone for ever!
I know when one is dead, and when one lives;
She's dead as earth. Lend me a looking-glass;
If that her breath will mist or stain the stone,
Why, then she lives.
KENT
Is this the promised end
EDGAR
Or image of that horror?
KING LEAR
This feather stirs; she lives! if it be so,
It is a chance which does redeem all sorrows
That ever I have felt.
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KENT
O my good master!
KING LEAR
Prithee, away.
A plague upon you, murderers, traitors all!
I might have saved her; now she's gone for ever!
Cordelia, Cordelia! stay a little. Ha!
What is't thou say'st? Her voice was ever soft,
Gentle, and low, an excellent thing in woman.
KENT
All's cheerless, dark, and deadly.
Your eldest daughters have fordone them selves,
And desperately are dead.
KING LEAR
And my poor fool is hang'd! No, no, no life!
Why should a dog, a horse, a rat, have life,
And thou no breath at all? Thou'lt come no more,
Never, never, never, never, never!
Pray you, undo this button: thank you, sir.
Do you see this? Look on her, look, her lips,
Look there, look there!

The actors begin to break character, and start collecting props and striking the set. Cordelia and Regan
and Goneril and Edmund stop being dead. Only Lear remains the same.

The curtains are pulled back farther, and the mechanisms of the stage are revealed.

The play is over but he stays.

Work lights come on.

The actors are all gone from the stage.

The house lights come up.

Lear is left.

End.