A Many-Headed ‘Lear,’ a Theatrical ‘Dinner With André’

AMERICAN THEATRE: The royal “we” reportedly dates to the 12th-century reign of Henry II, the English king best known to me as the one who had his former bestie Becket knifed over a church-state dispute (yes, I learned much of my history from the theatre), and who had, possibly in light of that very killing, a strong motivation to double down on the purported divine right of kings: By “we” he meant “God and I.” Talk about pulling rank.