Lear

ACT ONE

SCENE ONE

Lear, along with his advisor Warrington and his two daughters, visit a construction site. Lear has ordered the construction of a defensive wall that will surround his lands, and protect it from invasion by his enemies. There is an accident at the site, resulting in the death of one of the workers. Lear is dissatisfied with the delay in the work that the accident has caused, and orders the responsible parties to be executed by firing squad. His daughters, Bodice and Fontanelle, are wet, cold, and bored, and they beg him to let it go so they can go home. Lear - paranoid - does not believe that the worker’s death was a simple accident, and suspects that his crew has been infiltrated by saboteurs sent by the Dukes of Cornwall and North. Bodice and Fontanelle insist that Cornwall and North are not trying to sabotage the wall, and indeed are not Lear’s enemies at all. They reveal that they have each agreed to marry one of the Dukes in the hopes of ending the conflict