Charles Kean

Charles Kean (born Jan. 18, 1811, Waterford, County Waterford, Ire.—died Jan. 22, 1868, London, Eng.) was an English actor-manager best known for his revivals of Shakespearean plays.

The son of the famed actor Edmund Kean, he was educated at Eton and made his debut as Young Norval in Douglas in London in 1827. He toured the provinces extensively but first won general acceptance during an American tour in 1830. Returning to England, he steadily gained in reputation with well-honed performances, most notably as Sir Giles Overreach in Philip Massinger’s A New Way to Pay Old Debts, in Hamlet and Richard III, and as the melancholy Jaques in As You Like It.

Although handicapped by poor vocal projection and an unprepossessing physical appearance, Kean compensated by perfecting the details of each performance. As manager of the Princess’s Theatre (1850–59) in London, he staged a series of successful Shakespearean revivals that were notable for their historical accuracy. His 1856 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream was especially well received. His first appearance with his father, who originally had discouraged his theatrical ambition, was in John Howard Payne’s Brutus in Glasgow in 1828. He was playing Iago to his father’s Othello in 1833 when the elder Kean collapsed on stage in his final performance. Charles frequently appeared opposite Ellen Tree (1805–80), whom he married in 1842. Their adoptive daughter, the actress Agnes Robertson (1833–1916), made her debut at the Princess’s Theatre in 1851.