Kean, Charles
Kean, Charles (1811–68),English actor-manager, son of the great Edmund Kean, who sent him to Eton. Plump of figure, facially expressionless, and vocally nasal, Charles Kean was not well endowed to enter the profession in which he was bound to be compared—unfavourably—with his father. Nevertheless, despite or because of the family name, Charles Kean had early opportunities to play Shakespearian leads in London: Romeo (1829), Richard III (1830), Iago (1833) to his father's Othello, Othello and Hamlet (both 1838); in addition to which he undertook engagements in the provinces and America. Charles Kean's Shakespeare performances were criticized for ‘clap-trap effects’, misplaced emphases and unceasing—but pointless—locomotion. Nevertheless, in 1848 Queen Victoria appointed Kean director of the Royal Theatricals at Windsor Castle, whither he marshalled fellow thespians to perform before their sovereign in a range of plays old and new...
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