An Analysis of Shakespeare's King Lear

Who am I without my professional and familial identity: For example, when I retire, or when members of my family move away or die? What does it mean to have parts of myself stripped away? The questions are fundamental to King Lear, the play that Shakespeare wrote in 1605. A king sheds his responsibilities, and finds, to his shock, that he loses his social respect and position, and his very sense of self, along with his former authority. Yet in this drama about a once-mighty king, Shakespeare has also created one of the world's great family dramas, chronicling Lear's painful acquisition of self-knowledge and a measue of wisdom.

Philippa Kelly (PhD Shakespeare) is Resident Dramaturg for the California Shakespeare Theater and for Remote Theater Project, and has served as production dramaturg for many theaters, including Napa Shakes, The Aurora Theatre, the Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Word for Word, The Bell Theatre, the Acting Company, and the San Diego Shakespeare Society. A Fulbright, Rockefeller, Walter and Eliza Hall and Commonwealth Scholar, and co-recipient of a Bly Award from the literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas for Innovation in Dramaturgy, Philippa has published extensively on Shakespeare and on various theatre topics. Her Arden book, The King and I, illuminates King Lear through the lens of Australia's history of outcasting. Her Run the Canon series at Cal Shakes presents original 12-minute video talks on Shakespeare's canon: https://calshakes.org/cal-shakes-online/run-the-canon/  In 2020, Philippa was awarded a National Endowment of the Humanities grant to support dramaturgical innovations that highlight ways in which dramaturgs are working today to re-think and re-frame theater practice.