Becoming Lear: Shakespearean adaptation and the memory of performance

This article analyses the modalities in which a performance of Shakespeare's King Lear structures two late twentieth century plays, Thomas Bernhard's Minetti (1976) and Enzo Cormann's Storm Still (1997). It argues that the memory of a traumatic performance of Shakespeare's tragedy enables the protagonists of these plays – both ageing actors – to negotiate their relationship with painful memories and tell their story within what looks like a ‘surrogate’ performance of King Lear . The article also addresses the issue of the intertextual status of these dramatic works, arguing that they seem to announce more recent engagements with Shakespeare in stage performance.