A ‘glorious’ storm during King Lear at Shakespeare’s Globe

Kathryn Hunter as King Lear

(Image credit: Johan Persson)

published 29 July 2022

As audiences and actors sweltered last week during an open-air production of King Lear, the heavens opened – just as the storm scene was unfolding in Act 3 of the play. “For the first time throughout the whole run it began to rain,” said Kathryn Hunter, who is playing Lear in the production at Shakespeare’s Globe. “It was glorious, a kind of moment of grace, the storm actually came.” There had been concerns that no one would turn up, on the hottest day of the year, she told The Times; but the theatre was packed, and the audience was grateful to have a “little free shower”.

Telling the stories of England’s working-class history

West Yorkshire’s boxing clubs, the “gut girls” who toiled in slaughterhouses in 19th century Deptford, and Morecambe’s fearsome B&B landladies, are to be celebrated as part of a new project to highlight little-known aspects of working-class history in England. Historic England has selected 57 community-led projects in total for funding. These range from photography exhibitions to workshops: in Birmingham, for instance, teenagers will be able to learn blacksmithing skills.

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