This close study of film adaptations of King Lear looks atseveral different versions (mainstream, art-house and cinematic'offshoots') and discusses: the literary text in its historicalcontext, key themes and dominant readings of the text, how the text isadapted for screen and how adaptations have changed our reading of theoriginal text.

There are many references to the literary text and screenplays andthe book also features quotations from directors and critics. There isplenty of discursive material here to support student work on both filmand literature courses.