SOURCE: Harris, Arthur John. “Garrick, Colman, and King Lear: A Reconsideration.” Shakespeare Quarterly 22 (1971): 57-66.

In the following essay, Harris argues that it was Colman, not David Garrick as has most often been assumed, who was primarily responsible for the restoration of Shakespeare's King Lear in the mid-eighteenth century.

The belief has prevailed since the early nineteenth century that David Garrick is chiefly responsible for the initial steps in the restoration of Shakespeare's King Lear to the stage. The accepted opinion has been that, while Garrick began his career with the Nahum Tate version of Shakespeare's tragedy, he was thereafter gradually restoring Shakespeare's lines to his acting text and that in 1756 he presented a partially restored version of the play much as it is to be found in the text published in London, 1773, by John Bell. Hence, Garrick's work in the restoration of King Lear has been given precedence...