12 JUNE 1953, Page 7

Exit, Pursued by a Bear I am indebted to the

Shakespeare Newsletter, which is ptth- lished in New York, for news of what promises to be an exceptionally interesting production of King Lear. The original play has been slightly adapted. The action takes place in a circus, and all the dramatis personae are female. Here is a verbatim summary of Act I : " Queen Lear asks each of her daughters to perform and demands from each a speecli proving their love to her. The circus is suddenly closed when Cordelia self-con- sciously withholds such external flattery. Then follows a scene of violence, and Queen Lear expels her youngest daughter from the circus, dividing her share of the circus between Goneril and Regan, who have animal acts. The sudden inheritance of power arouses an ambition within Regan and Goneril to completely overthrow their mother." 136okings for the next three seasons, says the Newsletter, are being made. I trust that henceforth we shall hear no more of those rather obvious jokes about Hamlet on Ice. -