SOURCE: Bemrose, John. “Magical Monarch: Christopher Plummer is Superb in King Lear.” Maclean's 115, no. 36 (9 September 2002): 43.

In the following review of the 2002 Stratford Festival production of King Lear directed by Jonathan Miller, Bemrose contends that Christopher Plummer's portrayal of Lear was “the performance of his life.”

When Christopher Plummer strode out as King Lear on the opening night of Stratford's much-anticipated new production of Shakespeare's tragedy, no one applauded as they so often do at the Festival when a celebrity appears. Never mind that at 72, Plummer remains one of Stratford's favourite alumni, an international film and theatre star whose career, after some decades in the doldrums, has recovered magnificently of late. Never mind that the crowd seemed poised to welcome him home to the stage where he'd first triumphed almost half a century ago as the valiant young king, Henry V. There was simply no Chris Plummer in sight...