The one King Lear

"For over two hundred years editors were united in their decision to bring together the King Lear texts of the Quarto (1608) and the First Folio (1623) to produce a single text that was the basis for all modern productions and interpretations. In the 1980s a group of influential scholars argued that the two texts represent distinct stages in the life of King Lear, as Shakespeare revised his play in the light of theatrical performance. In The One King Lear, Sir Brian Vickers challenges this widely accepted theory, arguing that the cuts in the Quarto text, which are too insignificant to have…