Difference between revisions of "Edmund Kean"

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Fitzsimons, Raymund    Edmund Kean : fire from heaven / by Raymund Fitzsimons.   London :   Hamilton,   c1976
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The play ''Edmund Kean'' by Raymund Fitzsimons is based on the life of the early 19th century actor Edmund Kean. It is about the mystery of talent and its sometimes flawed human embodiment. First performed in 1983 in London, with British actor Ben Kingsley in the role of Kean. Published by Hamilton, 1976.
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In South Africa it was produced by [[Pieter Toerien]], directed by [[Rex Garner]], starring [[Michael Richard]] in 1985. (Source: Barrow, Brian & Williams-Short, Yvonne (eds.). 1988. ''Theatre Alive! The Baxter Story 1977-1987'').
  
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. ''Edmund Kean'' is a play about the mystery of talent and its sometimes flawed human embodiment. As staged by Alison Sutcliffe (Mr. Kingsley's wife), it presents a fascinating portrait of a man who rose from obscurity to the pinnacle of fame, who yearned for esteem and scorned respectability, who kept a pet lion, who compared himself to Byron and Napoleon, and whose accomplishments could not survive his excesses. In the end, a broken actor, Kean personifies the mythic figure of Shakespeare's imagery - ''a poor player/That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,/And then is heard no more. . . .'' All of his defiant mockery and bravado have been dissipated. Never a sympathetic figure, he becomes pitiable, or at least understandable.
 
  
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Source: Barrow, Brian & Williams-Short, Yvonne (eds.). 1988. Theatre Alive! The Baxter Story 1977-1987.
 
 
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Revision as of 09:56, 6 July 2013

The play Edmund Kean by Raymund Fitzsimons is based on the life of the early 19th century actor Edmund Kean. It is about the mystery of talent and its sometimes flawed human embodiment. First performed in 1983 in London, with British actor Ben Kingsley in the role of Kean. Published by Hamilton, 1976.

In South Africa it was produced by Pieter Toerien, directed by Rex Garner, starring Michael Richard in 1985. (Source: Barrow, Brian & Williams-Short, Yvonne (eds.). 1988. Theatre Alive! The Baxter Story 1977-1987).


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