"King Lear"- Leo McKern as Gloucester, Act I.i and ii

Act I, scenes one and two (Arden edition) some cuts, mostly from the Folio text

Leo McKern ... Gloucester
David Threlfall ... Edgar
Robert Lindsay ... Edmund
Dorothy Tutin ... Goneril
Geoffrey Bateman ... Oswald

Director: Michael Elliott

Shakespeare's "King Lear" (filmed 1983 for TV)


Samuel Taylor Coleridge on Edmund's speech, which starts this excerpt:

In this speech of Edmund you see as soon as a man cannot reconcile himself to reason, how his conscience flies off by way of appeal to Nature, who is sure upon such occasions never to find fault, and also how shame sharpens a predisposition in the heart to evil.

For it is a profound moral, that shame will naturally generate guilt; the oppressed will be vindictive, like Shylock, and in the anguish of underserved ignominy the delusion secretly springs, of getting over the moral quality of an action by fixing the mind on the mere physical act alone.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Shakespeare
• Lear
• Tutin
• Leo-McKern

[dudeman313]

These are scenes 2 and 3, not 1 & 2

[ShakespeareAndMore]

It is customary, when noting scenes in Shakespeare, to mention which edition one is referring to. Act and scene divisions sometimes differ between editions, but especially "Lear" with it's unusually variant texts....In the Arden edition, this video clip is indeed scenes 1 & 2.

[Yerdua2]

with the Arden edition on my lap, I can safely say that these are scenes 2 and 3. (p 179, beginning of scene 2)

[q43iluk]

I loved it. But when Gloucester left and Edmund started to speak directly to the camera just like Office, I burst out laughing...

[Jemmer1000]

Now, gods, stand up for bastards!

[lawrencefat]

im asian and i have to play gloucester for english class ._.

[pensivebosom]

Leo McKern is perfect.

[ventusaccent6]

im going to do this for our shakespeare festival.

[BrookHornblower]

@Teezer44 no hablo ingelsi, senor!

[Teezer44]

@BrookHornblower Read my comment. I think the bit where i say he is 'the best Edmund Ive ever seen' should make it clear that i do like his portrayal. Do you understand English?

[BrookHornblower]

@Teezer44 what are you saying? Do you like the actor who plays Edmund in the 1979 bbc version or not? do you like Horden as Lear in that version or not?

[Teezer44]

@BrookHornblower Michael Kitchen is the best Edmund Ive ever seen, to Michael Hordens Lear. He is so sly, conniving and witty. Deliciously played villain. Lindsay is an ok actor - not outstanding.