Globe and BBC to stage largest Shakespeare broadcast

The Stage, October 6, 2006
http://www.thestage.co.uk/news/newsstory.php/14387/globe-and-bbc-to-stage-largest-shakespeare

A performance of King Lear at the Globe Theatre is to be broadcast to 43 million listeners world-wide on the BBC World Service this Christmas, the largest audience to ever simultaneously hear a Shakespeare play.

The production will be presented at a special one-off show at the Bankside open air venue on October 15, which will be recorded for the broadcast.

Philip Madoc, from TV's "The Avengers" and "Doctor Who", will take the title role, while Mali Harries, from "Holby City", will play his daughter Cordelia.

Andrew Sachs, best known as "Fawlty Towers" waiter Manuel, will play the fool and Philip Jackson the Earl of Kent.

Previous Globe collaborations with the BBC include a broadcast performance of Measure for Measure on BBC4 in 2004.