"These audio recordings are a companion to The Complete Pelican Shakespeare published by Penguin Putnam Inc. The productions adhere to the edition edited by Alfred Harbage that was available at the time they were recorded. Subsequently, a new edition of The Complete Pelican Shakespeare, editied by Stephen Orgel and A. R. Braunmuller, was published in late 2002." - insert.

Insert contains a brief summary of each scene.

Director, Clive Brill ; composer, Dominique Le Gendre ; producers, Bill Shepherd and Tom Treadwell.

Trevor Peacock (Lear), Clive Merrison (Gloucester), Anton Lesser (Kent), Penny Downie (Goneril), Samantha Bond (Regan), Julia Ford (Cordelia), Gerard Murphy (Edmund), David Tennant (Edgar), John Rogan (Fool), David Horovitch (Albany), Rob Edwards (Cornwall), Jonathan Tafler (Oswald), Clifford Rose (Gentleman), John McAndrew (France), Christopher Gee (Burgundy), David Shaw Parker (Old man), Alex Lowe (Knight).

"Lear, King of Britain, has three daughters: the hard-hearted Goneril and Regan and the good and gentle Cordelia. Wishing to ease himself of the burden of rule, he determines to divide his kingdom between them, giving the largest share to she who can say she loves him the best. Lear's tragic lack of judgement and self-knowledge is paralleled by the blindness of the loyal Gloucester who is persuaded to reject his virtuous son Edgar in favor of the villainous Edmund. This shattering drama of isolation and loss is one of the greatest tragedies in world literature."--container.