A traveling Shakespeare company performs King Lear during the Blitz. Norman, dresser to the troupe's aging, megalomaniac star, struggles to maintain his composure and sanity amid air raid sirens, German bombing runs, and a master thespian slowly merging with the thunderous Mad King.

Premiered in 1980 at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, starring Freddie Jones as "Sir" and Tom Courtenay as Norman.