The Birthplace of Edmund Kean

While not much is known about the childhood of Kean, his birth would eventually lead to a revolutionary type of Shakesperian performance. Kean not only changed the way that actors were perceived, he forever revitalized the way that Shakespeare was performed on stage. Most likely born out of wedlock, which would have been considered disgraceful then, Kean had a poor childhood and had to work hard to eventually become an actor.

Parent Map

Romanticism: A Class Map

Coordinates

Latitude: 51.530105692126
Longitude: -0.173549652100

Timeline of Events Associated with The Birthplace of Edmund Kean

Date

Event

Manage

Edmund Kean as Richard the III

17 Mar 1789

The Birth of Edmund Kean

Edmund Kean was a famous british stage actor who revolutionized the protrayal of Shakesperian villians in the Romantic Period. Before Kean, Shakespearian actors were see as up-standing, tall, handsome, aristocratic men. Kean, however, was praised for his wild, theatrical, distorted protrayal in Shakespeare classics like Othello, Macbeth, Hamlet, King Lear, and more. Kean had a big hand in revitalizing and reinventing Shakespeare productions, mainly the tragedies, completely changing the perception and adaptations of Shakespeare for the rest of the Romantic period and on. Haunted by many demons and not handling fame well, his acting career was cut short, as his life ended after only 45 years. Even though his career was not long, he influenced many stage actors and writers of the Romantic period. Samuel Coleridge even claimed that "Seeing him act was like reading Shakespeare by flashes of lightning", showing just how influential and electric Kean was as an actor and story teller.

https://www.thestage.co.uk/features/2018/rise-and-fall-of-the-great-georgian-actor-edmund-kean/

https://www.nndb.com/people/318/000102012/

http://shakespeare.berkeley.edu/people/edmund-kean