What’s surprising about a show called King Lear is that it’s very much an ensemble effort. Among the most notable performances, Marr’s Earl of Gloucester stands out.

King Lear is one of Shakespeare’s best plays, a rich look at family, loyalty and a world in which fairness doesn’t always prevail. In the hands of thoughtful director Antoni Cimolino and a ...

Lear's Fool (who is wise) is ignored when he chides the king for his foolishness. The Earl of Gloucester is equally unwise: He trusts his bastard son Edmund, who betrays the legitimate Edgar.

King Lear shocks us with extreme acts of cruelty, such as the blinding of the king’s loyal prime minister, the Earl of Gloucester, by Lear’s daughter Regan and son-in-law the Duke of Cornwall.

But Lear’s deepest agonies have somehow passed us by. In fact, the real depths are plumbed here not by Lear but by his parallel deluded sufferer Gloucester.

KING LEAR by William Shakespeare (Watershed Shakespeare Festival Collective). At Theatre Passe Muraille (16 Ryerson). Runs to December 6. $30. 416-504-7529. See listings. Rating: NN First the good ...