Thanks for getting back to us with your question. I couldn't resist it as I've just seen a version of "Othello" set in the Falklands war - and the director is promising "Coriolanus in Kabul" for next year.
But I'm not just going for wacky ideas about context for "Lear". I'll start with some of the more mainstream possibilities which, trying to get some order into this vast subject, I've put into three categories: Elizabethan, mythic and non-specific. Of course this is a bit artificial - things aren't usually that clear-cut in the theater. In my opinion (though it's your opinion that matters here) all these three are possible backgrounds to the big themes of "King Lear" - themes including disintegration of a great man, enmity and passion, family, politics, dissolution of a kingdom, etc.
ELIZABETHAN
The play can be given a 'Shakespearean' look and feel by being produced in Elizabethan dress and maybe even on a period stage. This might be seen as reinforcing Shakespeare's text, adding importance to the actual poetry. It seems to be rather unfashionable at present.
There's a video of a production at the Globe (Shakespeare's theatre rebuilt) at:
http://www.tmwmedia.com/shakespeare_05.html
PAGAN BRITAIN/MYTHIC
This style picks up on the origins of the story in a more 'primitive' time well before Shakespeare's own. It allows directors to emphasise qualities of violence, storm, passion in an unfamiliar and distant period. Beside it, the Elizabethan costumes might look a bit 'cosy'.
A production by the RSC in London in 1999 had a 'mythic' flavour:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/story/0,3604,259358,00.html
And a 2001 production in San Francisco went down this road:
"Gray and black fabric flank a stone-like stage.... Few props .... other than the occasional table or throne....... Befitting pagan Britain, royalty and subjects are clad in a combination of the opulent and rough, with burlap over velvet."
http://www.sfshakes.org/news/archive/rollout_files/Index.html
NON-SPECIFIC/MINIMALISTIC
By getting rid of clues about time and place, directors can underline the universality of the themes in the play. Empty stark sets can help with creating a 'wasteland' feel.
An example might be a 2001 production at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park:
"Because Shakespeare's message is appropriate for any point in history, we have chosen to set this production without specific period or culture.......a raw, elemental world where violence becomes commonplace"
Read more at:
http://www.inch.com/~kteneyck/lear2.html
Or a minimalist film version:
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0148376
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MORE UNUSUAL PRODUCTIONS
Many of the more unconventional productions have used management metaphors.
"The Executive Lear" at the Edinburgh Fringe 2001 saw Lear as a chairman devolving power:
http://www.britishtheatreguide.info/otherresources/fringe/fringe01-04.htm#lear
The tycoon idea was also explored in a film:
".. a TV movie called King of Texas was released in the United States. It told the story of a self-made Texan ranch tycoon, John Lear, who divided his holdings among his daughters only to find that once they had his property, they, like, totally rejected him. Lear was played by RSC veteran (and Enterprise captain Jean-Luc Picard) Patrick Stewart, complete with Kenny Rodgers beard and a Texan drawl. "Get off ma land," he yelled at one point."
(The complete article could be relevant to your topic in a general way.)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/features/story/0,11710,780824,00.html
And another film, directed by Godard in the late eighties, is a bizarre variation on the theme (post-Chernobyl wealthy executive arrives in Switzerland....):
http://video.barnesandnoble.com/search/product.asp?userid=1A8GFFLGBV&EAN=26359024634
Or is he Edward VIII in a 1930s palace?
"The initial impression is that ....Lear..... is being likened to another king that gave up his kingdom, Edward VIII. This impression is enhanced by the use of television screens around the auditorium which show the speech where he gives up his country. He is surrounded by men in three-piece suits and ladies in sumptuous, sexy evening dress. "
http://www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/kinglear-rev.htm
Some people have seen Lear as a misogynist and you'll find a feminist version at:
http://www.english.uiuc.edu/newrevels/learsdaughters.html
Also, in the British National Video Archive of Stage Performance there's a record of a stage production with Lear as a woman. " modern dress and a vague suggestion of East European context" is context for "a place where enmity between clans and within families rumbles ominously".
http://theatremuseum.vam.ac.uk/video45.htm
And check out Kurosawa's Japanese version:
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0089881
One more helpful link leads to photos of various Royal Shakespeare Company productions showing a wide range of dress from many periods:
http://www.pads.ahds.ac.uk:81/padsKingLearPhotographs
Good luck in your researches. I had an interesting time doing this and I hope you enjoy working on it too. If anything needs clarification, please let me know.
Regards - Leli
search notes:
"King Lear" with RSC, "Edinburgh Fringe", "Shakespeare Festival", experimental, "modern dress", review
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