Conde nast traveler's King Lear announcement,

"We know him best as a certain crazy monarch; now, at last, he hits the boards as the greatest, maddest king of all. Revered English actor Nigel Hawthorne became a worldwide movie star and Oscar nominee with his bravura turn in the title role of The Madness of King George. This fall, he takes on the Everest of Shakespearean roles, King Lear.

An amazingly vital performer, 70 this year, Hawthorne is far from a stranger to the Bard; a Royal Shakespeare Company veteran, he recently played Malvolio in Trevor Nunn's film version of Twelfth Night and Clarence in the 1996 film of Richard III, starring Ian McKellen. His role in the U.K. stage version of Madness earned him four acting awards in London (including the coveted Olivier), and his 1991 performance as C. S. Lewis in the London and Broadway productions of Shadowlands won him a Tony for Best Actor. Fans of British sitcom on both sides of the Atlantic know Hawthorne best, of course, for his portrayal of Sir Humphrey Appelby in the political satire Yes (Prime) Minister.

This King Lear is an innovative Japanese-British collaboration masterminded by independent producer Thelma Holt and directed by Tokyo-based visionary Yukio Ninagawa, who first burst onto the British theater scene in the mid eighties with his samurai version of Macbeth. "I've been trying to do Lear with Nigel for a long time," says Holt. "He kept saying no, but I thought he'd find Ninagawa hard to resist." After premiering in Tokyo in early fall, Lear will play a limited run at London's Barbican Centre in late October. The production then transfers to the Royal Shakespeare Company's home base in Stratford-upon-Avon for an extended season (44-171-413-1452; call for dates)."