Summary

St. Aubyn reimagines King Lear as Henry Dunbar, a former media tycoon who has been robbed of his power by his two oldest daughters. Held captive in a rural English care home for the elderly called Meadowmeade, he is forced to take his sedatives each day by the local nurses. In this retelling Lear's Fool is an alcoholic ex-comedian named Peter. In his hospital room, Dunbar explains to Peter that all he wanted was to retire from the company while still staying on as non-executive Chairman. In an attempt to work around an inheritance tax, he decided to give his two oldest daughters the company, so he could retire and lay down the burden of running the Trust. He fired his attorney, Wilson, who in Shakespeare’s play, is his close advisor, Kent. Dunbar was furious at Wilson for refusing to follow his orders...