We picked up where we left off in Act 1, Scene 1, but before moving forward, ensemble members who had been present at our previous session helped catch everyone up. One member recapped what had happened so far, while another jumped in with additional details. Already, understanding the play was becoming a shared responsibility.

Even the books themselves gave us something to investigate. We are working between the New Cambridge Shakespeare and No Fear Shakespeare, and almost immediately we encountered a difference between the two editions. One attributed a line to Cordelia while the other gave it to Gloucester. We compared the versions, talked through what made sense, considered the note in the New Cambridge edition, made a choice, and kept reading.

Then we returned to Lear and his daughters.

After Cordelia refuses to perform her love for her father in exchange for her inheritance, Lear disowns her and turns to France and Burgundy. The ensemble’s reaction to him was succinct.

“He’s horrible,” one ensemble member said.

But rather than stopping at deciding who was right or wrong, we began asking what might motivate everyone involved. As we read Cordelia’s goodbye, we talked about the importance of finding ways to empathize with every character – even the antagonists. If we eventually want to portray these people, we have to investigate why they make the choices they do.

Before moving on, I asked the ensemble to predict where they thought the story might go. One participant thought Lear’s daughters would overthrow him. Another predicted, “Cast him out like he did their sister.” Someone else thought, “They’ll keep an eye on Cordelia,” while another wondered whether the husbands would ultimately step in.

That prediction led us into another discovery: Lear may say that he is giving his kingdom to his daughters, but within the world of the play, the power and property ultimately pass to their husbands.

Then I asked everyone how they felt about what had happened to Cordelia.

“It ticks me off,” one ensemble member said. “She takes a stand and she’s the bad guy.”

Another saw Cordelia’s refusal to flatter Lear as something much larger: “People butter other people up when they have something to gain. She is herself. There’s not a lot of Cordelia’s in this world.”

The story also began reminding ensemble members of other stories they knew. Participants found connections to Joseph and Esther, particularly in characters taking risks and facing consequences for standing by their convictions. Another ensemble member offered a somewhat less Shakespearean translation of Cordelia’s attitude toward the whole situation: “F- you and the horse you rode in on.”

Then we turned the page and met Edmund.

Act 1, Scene 2 introduced an entirely different family conflict. We began with Edmund’s opening monologue and talked about his frustration with being treated as lesser because he was born outside of marriage. At first, the ensemble understood his anger. What they didn’t know yet was what he planned to do with it.

As the scene unfolded, we followed the mysterious letter and Edmund’s interactions with Gloucester. The conversation moved into manipulation, relationships, and even love bombing. One ensemble member offered an observation that extended well beyond the play: “People hurt their friends and the ones they love cause strangers don’t give second chances.”

Then we reached the reveal.

When the ensemble learned who had actually written the letter, the room was shocked.

“He threw the brother under the bus.”

“Edmund’s a snake.”

“He’s messed up.”

But even as the group reacted to Edmund’s betrayal, another ensemble member returned to the motivation underneath it: “He’s tired of being without.”

That response brought us back to the work we had been doing all evening. Understanding a character’s motivation doesn’t require agreeing with what they do. Lear can make choices that infuriate us while still giving us something to investigate. Cordelia can be admirable while still being complicated. Edmund can manipulate his family while carrying very real anger about how his family and society have treated him.

We are only two scenes into King Lear, and the ensemble is already doing more than decoding Shakespeare’s language. They are predicting, questioning, comparing, arguing, laughing, finding contemporary parallels, and looking for the human motivations underneath the story.

As one ensemble member reminded us while talking about Cordelia, “She is herself.”

Now, as we continue reading, our challenge is to figure out who each of these characters really is – and why.