Shakespeare in Focus: King Lear

Booking will close on Friday 30th January 2026 at 12 noon.

Due to limited resources, we are UNABLE TO ACCEPT LATE BOOKINGS after this date.

This course will be held in Room 2F18 of the Dalhousie Building, University of Dundee.

This three-week course will look at King Lear in depth. This play is one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies, forcing us to look at the most uncompromising account of the breakdown of human society and yet it also asserts the strength and perseverance of human love. The play asks what binds human society together - what are its fundamental values and how can we recognize them? Through close textual analysis, we will study the play’s language, imagery and characterization and, with the help of film extracts and production slides, see how it works in performance.

Participants are asked to have read the play in advance and to have a copy with them in the sessions.

Tutor: Rebecca Brown

Before moving to Scotland, Rebecca worked for the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, in Stratford upon Avon, where she organized and taught courses on Shakespeare and the literature of his time to a wide range of students, young and old, including many from British and international universities. She often worked in collaboration with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the University of Birmingham’s Shakespeare Institute. In recent years, Rebecca has taught courses for the Continuing Education programmes of the universities of Dundee and St Andrews.

Course code: 09 213

Enquiries should be sent to: lifelonglearningdundee@gmail.com

As a volunteer organisation with limited resources, we try to respond to all queries as quickly as possible. Please bear with us.