Seamus Perry
speaker
386 appearances
5 recordings
1 series
first heard May 2026
last heard 31 Aug
Seamus Perry’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 5 in all, peaking in Aug 2026 with 2.
Appearances
Welcome to close readings.
At the heart of Shakespeare's King Lear, Act three.
It's one of the most extraordinary pieces of theatrical imagination ever.
His country, Leah's country, that is to say, is in disarray.
He's cruelly ejected by the two daughters to whom he has rashly delegated power.
and accompanied only by his fool, who is not the most upbeat of companions, the exiled old king, gradually losing his wits, wanders out on the heath in a howling storm.
He recognises or thinks he recognises, in the mayhem of the weather, an emblem of his own inner turbulence.
Blow winds and crack your cheeks rage blow.
They are joined by the faithful Kent, who guides them to a nearby hovel for shelter.
The rain it raineth every day is the fool's helpful commentary on events.
The hovel contains a surprise a mad, ragged man called poor Tom, in whom Leah instantly recognizes a kindred spirit.
Thou art the thing itself, Leah tells him.
An accommodated man is no more but such a poor bare fault animal as thou art.
Then the loyal nobleman Gloucester turns up.
He's rather taken aback at the reversal of Leah's fortunes.
What hath your grace no better company?
he asks.
And he pledges his loyalty to the broken king.
Gloucester has his own troubles, which are a sort of parallel to Lear's.
Lear has been betrayed by his daughters, and Gloucester, as he thinks, has been betrayed by his son, who is Edgar, who has planned to kill him.
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