Sartre wrote it, Gassman devours it — a theatrical tornado of ego and lust.
Vittorio Gassman brings Dumas's "Kean - Genius and Debauchery," adapted by Sartre, to television. Edmund Kean is a hugely popular and theatrical 19th-century English actor who is, however, addicted to vice and deeply in debt. He competes with the Prince of Wales, his partner in debauchery, for the wife of the Danish ambassador.
Acting
Gassman's volcanic charisma swallows the screen whole.
Writing
Sartre's philosophical barbs beneath period romance.
Costume
Exquisite 19th-century theatrical excess.
Director
Franco Enriquez
Vittorio Gassman
Edmund Kean
Valeria Valeri
Contessa di Koefeld
Anna Maria Ferrero
Anna Damby
Mario Feliciani
Salomon
Dina Sassoli
Contessa di Gosswill
Luigi Vannucchi
Principe di Galles
Raffaele Giangrande
Conte di Koefeld
Ferruccio Stagni
Peter Pat
Marcello Bertini
Lord Mewill
Giulio Bosetti
direttore del teatro
Mario Maranzana
Il connestabile
Bruno Ukmar
Poum
Franco Ukmar
Pistol
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Sartre adapted Dumas's 1836 play during his Marxist period, using Kean's class anxiety to critique artistic individualism. Gassman, Italy's greatest theatrical actor, was born to play this.
The real Edmund Kean collapsed onstage playing Othello in 1833 and died weeks later — this production subtly echoes that legendary exit.
IT
