King of a role for Michael Pennington at Royal and Derngate, Northamptonshire Telegraph, 1st April 2016

Michael Pennington discusses his lifelong obsession with Shakespeare, Oxford Times, 21st April 2016

‘King Lear? It’s like playing the blues’ , Lancashire Telegraph, 23rd April 2016

Seasoned Shakespeare: Michael Pennington spices up the Bard, Oxford Student, 2nd May 2016,

King Lear Star Michael Pennington talks Shakespeare, schools and Star Wars, The Argus, 29th April 2016

The astounding beauty of King Lear’s language, Brighton & Hove Independent, 6th May 2016

Veteran actor steps into hallowed shoes of Lear, Swindon Advertiser, May 2016

First in New York, now in York for Michael Pennington’s regal role in Shakespeare’s King Lear,The Press, May 2016

Theatre reviews, May 2016

Cambridge News, 15th June 2016

Bromsgrove Advertiser, 26th June 2016

..Pennington certainly gives a high-powered performance as the cranky and capricious monarch…

-Mail Online

…a powerful performance … And, at the centre, as there must be, is a superlative, well thought-out, emotionally compelling performance by Michael Pennington as the King.

-Plays To See

Michael Pennington’s Lear - spoken with immaculate clarity and charting with psychiatric precision the coming and going of the king’s mind

-New Statesman

…a culmination of a lifetime’s work - a pinnacle of a wonderful career on the stage…The production, however, truly belongs to Pennington, whose portrayal of the king who loses his mind is staggering in its mastery. He slips in and out of lucidity with alarming ease, and his quiet contemplations and momentary flashes of rage on the road to his ultimate downfall are exquisite in their execution. This truly is not a performance to be missed.

-The Review Hub

…Pennington – who did not act, as such: he simply was Lear, navigating his way through the intense ravages of senility – of perhaps even Alzheimer’s: with its moments of grief; anger; lucidity; regret; forgetfulness; of rage against his very condition; seeming “to age thirty years” …

The Bard of Tysoe

…..This is the best kind of Shakespeare production: fresh, fast-paced, clearly spoken and splendidly acted…..Pennington, is an excellent Lear, clearly charting every stage of the king’s journey from spoilt autocrat to abject prisoner…

-The Sunday Express

His Lear is remarkable in its range of emotion… It’s a powerfully sculpted performance from a great classic actor.

-The Reviews Hub

…ever dependable and ever watchable theatre veteran Michael Pennington (one of our finest Shakespearean performers) stirring up a storm as his tyrannical ruler…here is an actor of quality giving a Shakespeare masterclass, with a strong voice, and an absolute understanding of the text… Pennington’s experience and attention to detail is the stand-out delight

-Mid Sussex Times

To view a brief King Lear speech click on the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4m637jF80I

King Lear is deep, it’s sad and it’s tragic - but this production is riveting, and a shining example of excellent British theatre. And in case I hadn’t made this clear: what an outstanding performance from Michael Pennington in the lead role of Lear.

-London Theatre, 10th May 2016, Chris Omaweng

King Lear

By William Shakespeare

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