Antony Sher played the title role in Gregory Doran’s critically acclaimed RSC production of King Lear and his stupendous performance was designated ‘a crowning achievement in a major career’. Sher describes his year researching, rehearsing and performing one of the greatest roles in English theatre in conversation with Doran.

Antony Sher is an actor and author, whose performances on stage and screen have won numerous awards. He joined the RSC in 1982 and three years later his performance in the title role of Richard III won a Laurence Olivier Award and he won another for Stanley. He has played a number of film and TV roles and was the first actor of his generation to be knighted in 2000. He is also a novelist and playwright and has written accounts of several of his roles, including that of his one-man show about Primo Levi and another about playing Falstaff.

Gregory Doran is artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, described by the Sunday Times as ‘one of the great Shakespeareans of his generation.’ He directed his first RSC production in 1992 and has directed over two thirds of the Shakespearean canon. Notable RSC productions include Macbeth starring Antony Sher, Hamlet starring David Tennant and Patrick Stewart, and Julius Caesar with an all-black British cast. Publications include The Shakespeare Almanac and Shakespeare’s Lost Play: In Search of Cardenio and Woza Shakespeare! In 2002 he won the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement of the Year and, in June 2012, received the Sam Wanamaker Award from the Globe Theatre in recognition of his work in increasing the understanding and enjoyment of Shakespeare.