Edmund Kean, the greatest romantic actor of the 19th century, recreated by Dumas on the Paris stage, reinvented by Sartre in the 20th century, is now embodied by Antony Sher, one of our most inspiring classical actors.
Drawn loosely from life, Kean is a pretender of the highest order, as Sartre described him 'the actor who never ceased acting'. His private life is a public performance, a tragi-comedy about a man with an insatiable appetite for romantic adventure, an ego as big as a stage and an inability to rescue himself from jeopardy.
This cross-century collaboration is an unmissable portrait, redolent with greasepaint and overflowing with the life of the theatre.
Sartre's play is a passionate, sexy, funny, full-bloodied experience for anyone who loves Shakespeare, the theatre and great adventure.