Review: Lear at Pitlochry Festival Theatre

Finn den Hertog directs Maureen Beattie in Shakespeare's Lear at Pitlochry Festival Theatre this July. Read my review below.

Maureen Beattie and Forbes Masson in Lear. Photo: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan

Lear ★★★★☆

Review: 09 July 2026 | Pitlochry Festival Theatre

Pitlochry Festival Theatre's production of Lear features the wonderful Maureen Beattie as the ageing British monarch. The 'King' has been dropped from the title in this gender-swapped version of Shakespeare's tragedy, as Beattie becomes both Queen and mother to a warring family.

The Royal Family have gathered at Lear's estate to witness the 80-year-old announce her intention to pass the monarchy to her three daughters. As the Princess, Dukes, various other nobles and even the King of France mill around, quaffing champagne, Lear challenges each of her daughters to a love test: they must take turns in professing their love for her. It's a scenario many will recognise from recent TV hit Succession, Maureen Beattie's Lear, taking just as much pleasure in tormenting her offspring as Brian Cox's powerful patriarch Logan Roy did on the HBO hit.

Eldest daughter Goneril (Jenny Hulse) and middle child Regan (Lindsey Campbell) both proclaim their adoration for the queen, but youngest Cordelia (Ailsa Davidson) refuses to partake in the false flattery, so an enraged Lear splits the Kingdom between the eldest two girls and banishes Cordelia from Britain. When Lear's behaviour is challenged by her servant, the Earl of Kent (Mercy Ojelade), he too is banished.

But the fighting has only just begun. After various deceits and betrayals, Lear not only loses those closest to her, but her power and her dignity too. A simultaneous subplot unfurls with the Earl of Gloucester (a superb Forbes Masson) and his two sons, Edgar (Dylan Read) and Edmund (Reuben Joseph), as yet more cruelty and backstabbing rages between that complex family unit.

In true Shakespeare fashion, Lear is a tragedy, full of horrible people doing horrible things to one another, and all coming to a sticky end. But what Director Finn den Hertog so deftly pulls out of his adaptation of the 400-year-old play is not to focus on the royalty or the wealth of the characters, but on their flawed humanity, their greed and irrational family feuds that could so easily translate to us plebs, and to the modern day.

Lear at Pitlochry Festival Theatre. Photo: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan

Lear... would not look out of place at the National Theatre in London

I struggle with Shakespeare plays - I always find his work a long-winded challenge for my fried attention span, and therefore, I usually prefer more modern theatre. But with incredible design by Emma Bailey and Finn den Hertog's canny direction. Pitlochry's Lear elevates Shakespeare's book and makes it just that - contemporary - with scene after scene of impactful, stunning theatre. This Lear is so well staged and presented, it would not look out of place at the National Theatre in London.

Act I takes place within the decaying majesty of the palace, complete with crumbling walls and a precarious chandelier hinting at past glory days. The storm with lashing rain, whipping leaves, and howling wind is brilliantly executed. And the torture scene where Gloucester is blinded at the hands of (or in this case, at the Stiletto heel of) Regan is like a scene from another great TV show, Dexter, the tension building as she carefully lays down a plastic sheet and readies her tools for torture.

It's den Hertog's ability to inject tremendous atmosphere, sharp humour and these thrilling, dramatic elements that makes the 1 hour 40 minute continuous running time of Act I bearable.

The stage is reset for a shorter Act II, the palace walls removed, making way for a single branch on a misty moor, where Lear, who has now descended into madness, a blind Gloucester and all the other poor unfortunate souls, wander.

The staging and costuming are a highlight

Bailey's inspired modern costumes are a highlight. Goneril is styled like I imagine a casual Princess Beatrice dresses for a day at home with the family, while Regan could be a cover model for Horse and Hound. The Queen dons a power suit and 80s politician hair, while the men are all rich country chic. These are undoubtedly royal, wealthy people before us, but there's not a floaty Disney princess dress in sight.

The princesses themselves, Jenny Hulse, Lindsey Campbell and Ailsa Davidson, are fabulous as the Queen's three wily daughters; while the extraordinary Maureen Beattie is a convincing, dominant, powerful presence in Act I and a heartbreakingly fragile one in Act II. Dylan Read's impressive, physically disturbing performance of 'Poor Tom' is unforgettable. And with a strong ensemble cast that includes a resplendent Reuben Joseph, outstanding Forbes Masson and a superb Mercy Ojelade, Lear exudes quality from every aspect.

Shakespeare and Finn den Hertog have much to teach us in Lear, but it's their lesson about how we treat the elderly and how they can lose their sense of self and dignity that cuts me deepest. "Thou shouldst not have been old till thou hadst been wise." is such a vicious line, but it perfectly sums up the enduring cruelty of families - royal or otherwise.

Lear plays in the main auditorium at Pitlochry Festival Theatre from 4 July to 1 August 2026.

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MORE: Lear cast announcement: https://www.lisainthetheatre.com/post/lear-pitlochry-cast