The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 25.158 Monday, 31 March 2014
From: John Crowley <
Date: March 28, 2014 at 5:27:21 PM EDT
Subject: Re: SHAKSPER: Pennington Lear
Of course I’ve never seen it, and I can’t remember now who described it in writing (Kenneth Tynan?) but apparently Charles Laughton’s Lear at Stratford in the 1930s(?) took this approach of quietude and soft speech. It was a revelation to me just to read about it. I imagined “Blow winds and crack your cheeks” as almost a whisper, full of awe rather than rage. (BTW Laughton’s Lear was apparently heavily disapproved of.)