Dr. Toike's King Lear by David Kobayashi

John Wilson Bengough used Shakespearean cartoons to satirize Canadian politics in the nineteenth century.  Rick Miller created his stage play MacHomer based on the popular television comic The Simpsons.  In this adaptation by David Kobayashi, King Lear is told in the style of beloved children’s author Dr. Seuss.  Using the language, meter and rhyming style of Dr. Seuss, Kobayashi distilled the entire play to a two page centre spread for the University of Toronto’s humour newspaper Toike Oike.  The result is a very colourful send-up that adapts both Lear and Seuss.

David Kobayashi is a Dr. Seuss enthusiast and a graduate of the University of Toronto’s Electrical and Computer Engineering department. As a student, Kobayashi was the Editor-in-Chief of the Toike Oike.  This adaptation started as a final year High School English project.  Kobayashi re-wrote King Lear completely in rhyme and enlisted the help of friends and teachers to stage his adaptation.  While Editor-in-Chief at the Toike Oike, he re-edited the script for publication, and had it illustrated by a team of artists.

Link to Dr. Toike’s King Lear