King Lear

A new translation of Shakespeare’s great tragedy that renews it for today’s audiences.

Marcus Gardley’s translation of King Lear renews the language of one of Shakespeare’s most frequently staged tragedies for a modern audience. Gardley’s update allows audiences to hear the play anew while still finding themselves in the tragic midst of Shakespeare’s play.

This translation of King Lear was written as part of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Play On! project, which commissioned new translations of thirty-nine Shakespeare plays. These translations present the work of “The Bard” in language accessible to modern audiences while never losing the beauty of Shakespeare’s verse. Enlisting the talents of a diverse group of contemporary playwrights, screenwriters, and dramaturges from diverse backgrounds, this project reenvisions Shakespeare for the twenty-first century. These volumes make these works available for the first time in print—a new First Folio for a new era.