Theater News

Frank Langella Will Play King Lear at Chichester Festival Theatre and Brooklyn Academy of Music

The three-time Tony Award winner becomes the latest actor to take on the titanic Shakespearian role.

Frank Langella
Frank Langella
(© David Gordon)
Three-time Tony Award winner Frank Langella will take on the title role in William Shakespeare’s King Lear, a production of London’s Chichester Festival Theatre that will subsequently transfer to the Harvey Theater at Brooklyn Academy of Music.

Chichester Associate Director Angus Jackson will helm the production, which will feature designs by Robert Innes Hopkins. King Lear will run at Chichester’s Minerva Theatre October 31-November 30, with the New York performance dates set for January 7-February 9, 2014.

“We are absolutely delighted to announce that this legendary American actor has accepted our invitation to lead the company of King Lear here at Chichester; and equally delighted to be returning to BAM after our previous collaboration, Macbeth, in 2008,” Chichester Festival Theatre Artistic Director Jonathan Church.

Langella received Tony Awards for his performances in Frost/Nixon, Seascape, and Fortune’s Fool, and was nominated for his roles in Man and Boy, Dracula, and Match. He received an Academy Award nomination for his performance as Richard Nixon in the film version of Frost/Nixon, and has appeared on screen in Robot & Frank, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, Starting Out in the Evening, Good Night and Good Luck, Superman Returns, and many others.