KING Lear - it sounds like a one-man show and all the pre-publicity about this new production from the Royal Shakespeare Company reinforced that view.

It was a virtual sell-out on the strength of Ian McKellen as the lead, and then there was the controversial delay in reviews caused by a key actor's injuries.

Was this just director Trevor Nunn building up the hype, or was he hiding a deep secret...?

Well, after all the waiting, it was none of these. There's no need to hype such a blisteringly honest interpretation of Shakespeare's savage tragedy. There's no secret flaw among the cast - they are on top form.

And it's not a one-man show. This production reveals a 21st century dysfunctional family that could step straight from a TV soap.

There's the tyrannical father, losing his authority and his dignity faster than his family can strip them from him and yet, who won't let go, three waste-of-space daughters who either want his money or his power or his love but can't find the right way or words to get them, and a range of honest friends who can't help because they're either mad, pretending to be mad or misunderstood.

It has to end badly. Family ties and respect through the generations have no place here.

Christopher Oram's design and Neil Austin's lighting spare us none of the cruelty and pain that Nunn points us to as the heart of this play.

It's not Gloucester's eyes being gouged out that gives us the shivers but Regan's (Monica Dolan) orgasmic delight. It's not Edgar's (Ben Meyjes) feigned madness but Lear's (Ian McKellen) so touching, so real, stripping off to join him. It's not the final bitter duel between Edgar and Edmund (Philip Winchester) but the sense of sibling rivalry that echoes that of Lear's three daughters.

And these three, as much as Lear, dominate this stunning production.

Frances Barber (Goneril), Monica Dolan and Romola Garai (Cordelia) are pre-destined for a tragic outcome by the play's opening scene, when their father rolls out the map of their future lives, dividing his worldly possessions.

The destruction of their lives and of those closest to them, as they fight for what they see as their rights over those of their father and his generation, is played out against a disintegrating landscape blasted by thunder, lighting and rain.

But Trevor Nunn's huge achievement in this production is to leave us caring about the why of it all.

King Lear transfers to the New London Theatre, London from November 12, 2007, for a limited run, after a world tour. RSC Members' booking opens July 2, public booking September 7.

LG